Science & the Environment
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Oceans: A whale of a time
22 June 201018 Die Welt Berlin -
Biofuels: Not so green after all
16 June 2010291 Trouw Amsterdam -
Waste management: EU tackles waste problem
15 June 201011PresseuropDziennik Gazeta Prawna -
Agriculture: EU puts GM crops on the menu
10 June 2010621 Le Monde Paris -
Oil industry: BP spill sinks British pensions
10 June 20101PresseuropThe Daily Telegraph -
Oil industry: BP faces the hurricane, financial and real
2 June 2010PresseuropThe Independent -
Global warming: Holidays on Lake Baltic?
25 May 2010PresseuropNewsweek Polska -
CO2: EU aims to take lead on emissions
21 May 20101PresseuropLe Monde -
Genetics: And man became God
21 May 2010272PresseuropThe Economist -
Romania: Cyanide banned in gold mines
6 May 2010PresseuropEvenimentul zilei -
Climate change: Europe takes on its rising waters
27 April 2010161 Público Madrid -
Romania: White Stream II aims to sideline Nabucco
15 April 2010PresseuropRomânia libera -
Nuclear Energy: The great atomic bluff
13 April 20101785 Internazionale Rome -
Solar energy: Set the electricity grid free
8 April 2010262 La Vanguardia Barcelona -
Gas: Slovakia warms to Gazprom
7 April 2010PresseuropMladá Fronta DNES -
Netherlands: Save the planet - tax meat
7 April 20101PresseuropNRC Handelsblad -
Czech Republic : Speculators reach for the sun
18 March 2010242 Mladá Fronta DNES Prague -
Gas: Energy solidarity not yet on tap
17 March 2010Rzeczpospolita Warsaw -
Slovakia: Nuclear plans put on need-to-know basis
11 March 2010PresseuropSME -
Petrol: Romania's Black Sea, the new Persian Gulf?
23 February 2010592 Adevărul Bucharest -
Atomic energy: Eastern Europe, a nuclear dustbin?
18 February 2010PresseuropPolska The Times -
Czech Republic: Putting green Eldorado on ice
17 February 2010PresseuropHospodářské Noviny -
Astronomy: Spain wants super telescope
15 February 2010PresseuropPúblico -
Controversy: Of climate sceptics, cryptoscience and bunk
12 February 2010352 NRC Handelsblad Amsterdam -
Baltic Sea: The big cleanup begins
11 February 2010PresseuropHelsingin Sanomat -
Spain: No-one in rush to host nuclear dump
25 January 2010PresseuropABC -
Czech Republic: Eco-racketeering, a business with a future
25 January 2010962 Lidové noviny Prague -
Germany: Salty nuclear waste nightmare
15 January 2010PresseuropFrankfurter Rundschau -
Stem cells: Portugal's mothers make "bank" a success
14 January 2010PresseuropPúblico -
Renewable Energies: Technology transfer - now
12 January 2010152 NRC Handelsblad Amsterdam -
After COP15: Polluting just got cheaper
23 December 2009PresseuropPolitiken -
COP15: Save the planet - get rid of the state
22 December 2009122 El País Madrid -
COP15: Going round in circles
18 December 200916 Presseurop -
France: The blackout risk
17 December 2009PresseuropLe Monde -
COP15: Homo Economicus goes to the wall
17 December 2009703 The Guardian London -
Renewable Energy: Scam with the wind
16 December 2009301 International Herald Tribune Paris -
France: Sarkozy loan to create French Ivy League
15 December 2009PresseuropLibération -
COP15: Rebels divided about the cause
14 December 20091 Die Zeit Hamburg -
COP15: Fossil fuels, for the dinosaurs
10 December 200927 El Mundo Madrid -
COP15: Is Moscow behind Climategate?
8 December 2009PresseuropMladá Fronta DNES -
Wind power: Answer is blowing in the North Sea wind
8 December 20091PresseuropDe Morgen -
COP15: Much CO2 about nothing?
7 December 2009Presseurop -
Climate Change: Carbon storage emerges from underground
7 December 2009201 Trouw Amsterdam -
COP15: Brussels cheerleads to the summit
4 December 2009La Stampa Turin -
COP15: Copenhagen or the hypercane
3 December 200933 The Independent London -
COP 15: Obama's whistle-stop visit criticized
26 November 2009PresseuropJyllands-Posten -
COP 15: The battle over climate change
25 November 20091 La Tribune Paris -
COP15: Towards another wasted summit
16 November 2009PresseuropBerlingske Tidende -
CO2: EU slips through Kyoto loopholes
13 November 2009PresseuropDe Volkskrant -
Gas: Gazprom makes offers no-one refuses
12 November 200942 Polska The Times Warsaw
Currently under discussion in Agadir, the ban on whaling continues to divide the international community. Die Welt argues that the ironclad protection demanded for the cetaceans by most European countries is evidence of a quasi-religious conception of ecology. 
The European Commission has introduced a new biofuels certification scheme to combat deforestation, among other laudable objectives. But biofuel production uses up a great deal of arable land and if food crop farmers have to move elsewhere, more land may end up being cleared.... 
The European Commission intends to authorise more and more genetically modified crops (GMCs), leaving it up to member states to ban them as they see fit. That should satisfy biotech-friendly nations – while allowing those opposed to keep GMCs off their soil. 
Even if it can’t stop the seas from rising over the course of this century, the EU is trying to stave off the disastrous consequences. Two ambitious projects have just been kicked off to save Europe’s most vulnerable coastlines. 
Constant hold-ups, skyrocketing costs, faulty construction…Finland’s new Olkiluoto reactor, touted as the great white hope for Europe’s nuclear sector, is looking more and more like a great white elephant – and casting a fat black shadow over the whole industry. 
Current power grid management systems make energy self-sufficiency impossible, even in homes that produce solar power, reports La Vanguardia. However the Catalan daily hopes that artificial restrictions imposed on home energy production by large corporations that run power networks will soon be a thing of the past. 
Buoyed by bountiful state subsidies, the Czech solar sector is booming. Investors the world over are rushing in to snatch up this manna, with little thought to the ecological aims, bemoans Mladá Fronta DNES. 
To avoid natural gas shortages that have marked the past few winters, the EU is studying a mutual assistance plan for member states. But the trigger conditions won't satisfy everyone, and member states aren't ready to play the game, writes Rzeczspospolita.
A year ago the International Court of Justice (ICJ) confirmed Romania's sovereignty over part of the Black Sea continental shelf. Ever since the government in Bucharest has been dreaming of lucrative deals with major oil and gas companies, reports Adevărul. 
Climate sceptics are riding high these days. With a sizeable helping of bad faith, they exploit every little scientific slip-up to claim that global warming is not due to human activity – and to malign the IPCC, the international organisation to gauge climate change, warns the NRC Handelsblad. 
The arrest of an environmental activist who demanded money to withdraw his opposition to real estate projects has lifted the veil on a new type of blackmail, which writer Ivan Brezina maintains pales in comparison with the stock and trade of major public figures in the environmental movement. 
Instead of paying developing countries to combat global warming, it would make more sense to help them to the latest know-how, argue two Dutch researchers. 
The main obstacle to a climate deal at the Copenhagen Conference was state sovereignty. The solution, argues political scientist José Ignacio Torreblanca, lies in exporting the EU’s know-how and institutional approach. 
Widely hailed as one of the last chances to save the planet, the Copenhagen conference has proved unequal to the challenge, laments the European press. From diplomacy to the economy, it may be time to learn a lesson or two from this global washout. 
The likely failure of the Copenhagen climate summit to achieve progress on climate change is due to an inability to imagine a humanity that can no longer live without restraint. An impassioned plea by British environmentalist author George Monbiot. 
Renewable energies have been high on the agenda during the Copenhagen climate conference. In Europe, however, with €6 billion in EU subsidies up for grabs, the eco-friendly wind farm industry is fast attracting green swindlers of all sorts. A report by the International Herald Tribune. 
They come to Denmark disguised as pirates to frighten the guardians of the fossil-fuel energy system, or to stage mock trials of CO2–spouting polluters: tens of thousands of climate activists have descended on Copenhagen. But behind their seemingly united front, the big climate organisations are at loggerheads, reports Die Zeit, over whether to join or disrupt the talks. 
Changing our energy system is the key to curbing CO2 emissions and global warming. In the run-up to the Copenhagen Climate Conference (COP15), the European Union has announced plans to generate 20% of its energy using renewable sources. 
The Copenhagen summit, which is opening with great ambitions, might well come up with no deal at all – or worse: a short-lived deal that never gets ratified or implemented. Climate sceptics, for their part, challenge the very premise of the conference. Here’s today’s press in review on the COP15. 
Numerous companies and organizations, including Shell, have proposed capturing CO2 for storage underground; and scientists who were sceptical about the technique are now rallying to the cause. However, in view of the economic interests at stake, it is hard to tell the independent experts from the lobbyists. 
Even before the curtain rises on the Copenhagen Climate Conference on 7 December, the world is already warring over emissions targets. And Brussels is brandishing some fateful figures in its bid to lead the global crusade against greenhouse gases. 
Either a drastic cut in emissions, or a planet we won’t even recognise. As the Copenhagen summit on climate change opens, Johann Hari, ranging from the Maldives to the Artic and Darfur, argues that this is the stark choice the world faces. 
If few question the veracity of global warming, it is because of the IPCC. Over the last 20 years, the International Panel on Climate Change has changed public opinion. La Tribune reports on the network that is once again under attack. 
Current or former heads of government, European commissioners, national energy company chiefs — in Brussels, the Russian energy giant has fielded a formidable team of lobbyists to defend its interests and projects, which are not always compatible with European initiatives.