"The shale gas revolution is not feasible," headlines Dutch financial daily Het Financieele Dagblad, following the March 27 meeting of European Union environment and climate ministers.

According to the newspaper, EU Commissioner for Climate, Connie Hedegaard, and the Commissioner for Energy, Günther Oettinger, sought to dampen the enthusiasm of some member states that aim to exploit shale gas reserves, which are thought to be considerable in Europe.

While some countries such as France and Belgium have imposed a moratorium, others such as the United Kingdom and Poland have already begun exploratory drilling. The newspaper notes that the EU Commission plans to establish a political framework, at the latest by the end of the year, which will regulate shale gas extraction in those member states wishing to take advantage of their reserves.

Shale gas extraction is "controversial" because of its negative environmental impact, explains the newspaper, which goes on to quote Commissioner Hedegaard, who says —

We should not fool ourselves. This is not going to be as cheap as in the US. [...] We don't have the same wide open spaces. We pay more attention to what local people think.

In addition, compared with the United States, where the price of gas is five times cheaper, Europe has stricter environmental legislation and the geological formations are different, which is why —

experts, including, among others, the International Energy Agency, have advised the EU against relying solely on shale gas.

Faced with the problem of approximately 2,000 deer, living in 3,000 hectares of dunes close to Amsterdam, which were causing extensive damage to protected ecosystems and even urban gardens, authorities built a 17km-long fence to contain the animals.

The solution had the advantage of being in line with public opinion, which is strongly opposed to hunting. However, it now appears that many of the deer are dying of hunger.

This week Amsterdam’s municipal council is set to vote on an alternative solution. It may choose the most benevolent option, which would be to shoot the deer before they die of starvation.

“Warsaw under EU climate pressure”, headlines Rzeczpospolita as the European Parliament debates further reductions of CO2 emissions. The assembly is expected to adopt a resolution urging the European Commission to pass laws that will reduce Europe’s emissions by 30 percent by 2020, a target 10 percentage points higher than provided for by the EU climate strategy. “For Poland, with its coal-fuelled power sector and energy-intensive heavy industry, that’s a real challenge”, stresses the conservative daily, warning that further cuts would threaten the viability of Polish steel plants, paper mills and fertiliser factories. It would also force the government to spend some 2 billion euro to buy extra emission rights and result in a rise of energy prices for consumers as high as 27 percent. The Warsaw daily calls these “monstrous costs” and reminds readers that two weeks ago at the ministerial conference in Luxembourg Poland alone vetoed the proposal to cut emissions by 30 percent, exposing itself to a “wave of criticism from the supporters of more restrictive climate protection”.

“Worst ever carbon emissions leave climate on the brink,” headlines the Guardian, revealing latest estimates from the International Energy Agency (IEA) showing that, “[g]reenhouse gas emissions increased by a record amount last year, to the highest carbon output in history.” In 2010, according to the Paris-based intergovernmental organisation, “a record 30.6 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide poured into the atmosphere, mainly from burning fossil fuel – a rise of 1.6Gt on 2009.” This “shock rise” puts “hopes of holding global warming to safe levels all but out of reach”, the Guardian notes. One expert at the London School of Economics now anticipates a 50% chance of a rise in global average temperature of more than 4C by 2100. “Such warming would disrupt the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people across the planet, leading to widespread mass migration and conflict. That is a risk any sane person would seek to drastically reduce," he said.

One year after Eyjafjallajokull eruption, which paralysed air traffic in 2010, European airspace has now come under threat from another Icelandic volcano, Grimsvötn, one of the most active in the country. In its biggest eruption in 100 years, Grimsvötn has sent a plume of smoke 20km into the air, explains Morgunbladid. For the moment, the cloud of volcanic ash which has descended on much of the country, forcing locals to wear gas masks whenever they go outside, has only affected air traffic to and from Iceland, and also to and from Greenland and Spitsbergen. However, experts have pointed out that low-altitude westerly winds could blow the ash towards continental Europe over the next few days.

“A quarter of European animal species are threatened with extinction,” reports Spanish daily El Periódico. The evaluation was provided on May 3 by the EU Environment Commissioner, Janez Potočnik, who presented the EU’s strategy to combat the loss of biodiversity in Europe. Objective: to restore at least 15 percent of degraded ecosystems by 2020. Biodiversity loss “will eventually cost the EU some 50 billion euros per year,” notes El Periódico, which regrets that the strategy announced “lacks measurable objectives and represents, rather, a bundle of good intentions.” 

El Periódico says that 88 percent of European fish stocks are overfished and that the survival of 22 percent of European species is threatened by “increasingly aggressive” species invading from other ecosystems.

For its part, French daily Le Monde condemns the “miserable failure” of the previous plan of the EU, and stresses that the objectives set on May 3 “mark a rift in the community approach” as “the document ceases to make biodiversity an autonomous sector and imposes its objectives on the sectoral policies of the Union – agriculture, forestry, fishing – where the  impact is greatest.” Le Monde notes that Potočnik, with the ambitious objectives of the plan, “blithely tramples on the toes of his colleagues in agriculture and fisheries”, which could create “frictions” in Brussels and among member states. The document will be discussed in Parliament before the end of the year.

“Europe to ban 'discarding' of unwanted fish,” headlines the Guardian, after EU fisheries commissioner, Maria Damanaki, called for an end to the “unethical” practice of throwing unwanted fish back into the sea. “Fishermen are driven to discard fish under the current quota systems because they can only legally bring home a certain quantity of the species they are allocated,” the London daily explains. “When they catch too many, or accidentally net fish for which they do not have a quota, they must dump the excess. As a result, as much as two-thirds of the fish caught in some areas are thrown back into the water, usually dead. About 1m tonnes are estimated to be thrown back each year into the North Sea alone.” Although alternatives to the current quota system are yet to be defined, the EU is “highly likely” to legislate on the issue in the next two years, the Guardian notes.

"Revealed: how energy firms spy on environmental activists," headlines The Guardian. The daily has obtained leaked documents which show how, over the last three years, three major energy firms in the UK – the power companies E. ON and Scottish Power, and coal producer Scottish Resources Group – having being paying a private security firm to monitor environmental groups like the Climate Camp movement. The news that “business risk management” specialist Vericola has been joining mailing lists and infiltrating environmental groups comes at time when four official inquiries are currently investigating UK police who went undercover to join protest groups. As part of their defence, the police operatives pointed out that there were more corporate spies than undercover police infiltrating environmental groups.

"From Madrid to hell," announces Público – an ironic paraphrase of the advertising slogan "from Madrid to heaven." The daily reports that over the last few days "the upsurge of pollution has set alarm bells ringing" in the Spanish capital. In 2010, Público recalls that "87% of the city’s air-quality control stations reported abnormally high levels of pollution," while "0% of drivers responded to a request from Mayor Albert Ruiz-Gallardon to avoid using their cars." As it stands, cars are responsible for 80% of air pollution in Madrid. And the problem also affects other major cities in Spain. In Barcelona, El Periódico notes that the local citizens "are unable to do anything about the level of pollution" and that "experts have demanded an emergency plan to deal with critical situations."

"European consumption threatens to destroy Amazon rainforest," warns Público, in an article highlighting the findings of a report published by the NGO Friends of the Earth (FoE) on 25 January. According to the newspaper, the surface area of the rainforest could be dramatically reduced by 2020, "as a result of the steep increase in European consumption of meat, biofuels and animal feed from Brazil," a phenomenon "that is expected to increase exponentially over the next decade." The daily points out that the EU trade bloc, which is the world’s biggest importer of ethanol, is also home to the fourth largest market for imported meat and one of the main markets for GMO soya. Consumption of these "three pillars of the Brazilian economy" will lead to the permanent degradation of the Amazon Rainforest, which will have a "major negative impact on climate change, biodiversity and the lives of thousands of people," warns Adrian Bebb, agrofuels campaign coordinator for Friends of the Earth Europe.

Público voices its support for several environmental groups that are hoping to weigh on the EU’s "review of the common agricultural policy (CAP)," which accounts for 40% its budget. The daily remarks that CAP policies, on the table for discussion at 24 January meeting of Europe’s agriculture ministers in Brussels, were responsible for the indifferent reception that greeted the "Meat Free Mondays" initiative when it was presented by singer Paul McCartney in Brussels last year. "Neither the European Commission or the governments of Europe’s 27 member states were willing to consider proposals put forward by the campaign," points out Público.

Libération reports that hackers have stolen a huge haul of carbon credits from a number of European countries. There was "no forced entry. No safes were attacked with explosives… But a substantial quantity of pollution rights in national registers" were removed from the accounts of major Austrian, Greek, Czech, Polish and Estonian companies. According to the European Commission, in the raid, which was finally discovered on 19 January, the online fraudsters made off with carbon credits for three million tonnes of CO2 worth 200 million euros. "The latest break-in will further undermine the credibility of the emission allowance trading scheme," writes Libération. Over the last three years, the market, which "was launched by the EU in 2005 to reduce the level of industrial greenhouse gas emissions," has regularly been targeted by cybercriminals.

"Everything is as it was two years ago," headlines La Stampa. With a quote from one of the European Commission inspectors dispatched to Naples to evaluate compliance with the EU directive on waste and the European Court of Justice ruling on the management of the city’s unending rubbish crisis, the Turin daily reports that plans to improve waste disposal infrastructure may now be in jeopardy. The inspectors will have the power to grant or withdraw €158 million in funding for the construction of new incinerators. As it stands, the local government appears to be unable to do anything about the 2,500 tonnes of waste piled up in the streets of Naples. "It is particularly painful to have to listen to foreigners, in this case EU representatives, saying that no progress has been made in Campania [the Naples region]," remarks a disgruntled Il Sole 24 Ore.

“Environmental disaster: state of emergency in three counties,” headlines Népszabadság, two days after a toxic reservoir at an alumina plant burst in Ajka, in western Hungary, releasing a torrent of caustic red sludge. The paper, which devotes several articles to the story, blames human negligence for the disaster. Komment.hu deplores the fact that, “under pressure from the EU, Hungary spends colossal sums on getting people to sort their household refuse, which doesn’t even account for 5% of the trash”, while failing to apply safety measures in the processing of industrial waste, a “true time bomb”.

"Buying carbon credits is like throwing money out the window,” headlines the Danish paper Information, summing up the report released on October by the Danish NGO Økologiske Råd (Ecological Council). The report says the EU Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) isn’t working. When the system first got going, too many credits were sold to companies for a song: €15 per tonne of CO2 emissions – which is no real incentive for businesses and households to cut down on emissions. And the economic crisis is only adding fuel to the carboniferous fire. Økologiske Råd recommends completely overhauling the cap and trade system – and for starters, reducing the current quotas.

While the ongoing forest blazes in Russia continue to worry observers, record fires in Portugal have caused an estimated 210 million euros worth of damage, says the Lisbon daily i. Quoting estimates provided by the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), 70% of the nearly 128,000 hectares that have burned this summer in the European Union are in Portugal. Even as recently as this last weekend, 687 fires were still been raging throughout the country. 

"Natural catastrophes and nuclear energy: the danger has been pushed back", reads the headline of Die Tageszeitung, depicting the image of a Russian forest contaminated by the 1985 Chernobyl meltdown, now endangered by the encroaching flames of forest fires in Russia. The daily explains that even if experts believe that Germans don't yet have reason to sound the alarm, observers in Eastern Europe and in the north are becoming increasingly worried. "Nuclear power plants and their wastes are particularly vulnerable to natural catastrophes (...) and not just in Russia", notes the "TAZ", recalling the sites of Forsmark (Sweden), Biblis (Germany) and Belent (Bulgaria), all three of which have been exposed to important risks of natural disaster.

The EU is waging a war against waste and threatening with harsh penalties those who fail to introduce an effective waste pick-up, disposal, and recycling system by end-2010. According to Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, Poland is one of the few member states that have not even introduced the necessary regulations yet. Between 2011-2020, EU countries are to significantly reduce their waste output as well as boosting recycling levels. "The stragglers will face penalties. The maximum will be 200,000 EUR per day," warns the Warsaw daily. Some 120 million tonnes of waste annually finds its way into municipal waste dumps in EU member states, which represents about a half of the community’s total waste output. The other half is disposed of, for example in incineration plants. Many countries produce power this way. In Poland, however, the very term ‘incineration plant’ usually causes loud protests in the local community. In the last couple of years, several incineration plants were to be built in Poland with the EU’s support. None have actually materialized because the plans were fiercely opposed by local residents afraid of environmental pollution and harmful gas emissions.

Over the coming decades the Baltic Sea could well become one warm freshwater lake and a tourist attraction for Europeans, writes Newsweek Polska. Why? Because it has become shallower and less salty due to global warming and insufficient water flows from the North Sea. According to a scientific forecast, the Baltic Sea’s salinity, currently averaging seven percent, will drop to five percent in the next few years. And while rising water temperatures and lower salinity could well make the Baltic more attractive from a tourist’s perspective, a consequent reduction in oxygen levels could lead to the extinction of much marine life, including the Baltic cod. There is also an even less optimistic scenario, warns the Polish weekly – that the Baltic will become a toxic swamp full of blue-green algae thriving on vast amounts of agricultural fertiliser washed out to the sea every year. If nothing is done, the Baltic “will become shallow and boggy and then disappear altogether”.

"Brussels is in favour of a 30% reduction in CO2 emmissions," reports Le Monde, which has obtained a Commission paper on the topic to be published on 26 May. As the daily explains, Brussels is no longer satisfied with the 20% reduction by 2020 approved by Europe's 27 member states in 2007, which it believes will not be sufficient if the EU is to meet the long-term goal of an 80% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050. As for the agreement reached by the 2009 Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, in a best case scenario, this will only result in a 15% cut in emissions. "If member states fall into step behind the Commission on this issue, they will give a major boost to international climate change negotiations," notes Le Monde. The added annual cost of reducing emissions by 30% has been estimated at 11 billion euros, however the measure should "encourage Europe to reinforce its economic position and to create jobs in the environmental sectors that are deemed to be the most lucrative: energy efficiency and renewable energies," explains the daily. At the same time, the Commission believes that the risk of industrial delocalisation to countries with less stringent environmental regulations remains limited, although Le Monde also notes that there is as yet no international agreement on this topic.

“Meat is not a basic need, but reducing meat consumption has become a basic need,” in the opinion of the former Dutch Finance Minister, Jan Terlouw, and Hans Baaij, director of Pigs in Peril, a Dutch animal welfare organisation. In an article published in NRC Handelsblad, the two plead for the introduction of a tax on meat, arguing that excessive consumption is putting the environment and people’s health at risk. Back in 2007, the Dutch Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis judged that such a tax was feasible and advocated reducing the country’s meat consumption (which is estimated at 85 kg per person per year in the Netherlands) by two-thirds. According to the article’s authors, who also stress the horrific conditions found in intensive animal production and the widespread use of antibiotics, this tax would also allow the Netherlands to reduce its budget deficit (which is forecast to reach 4.8% of GDP in 2010). According to their calculations, a tax of 1 euro per kilo would generate roughly 1.5 billion euros for the state coffers.

The countries bordering the Baltic Sea pledge to clean up what experts call the “most polluted sea in the world”, reports Helsingin Sanomat. At a Helsinki summit meeting of over 400 experts and NGO and business representatives convened by the Baltic Sea Action Group (BSAG, an independent foundation based in the Finnish capital), "The heads of state and representatives of the countries that share these waters pledged to reduce or eliminate waste disposal in the sea,” including detergents and fertilisers containing phosphates and nitrates, respectively. "The states are promising less than the organisations," however, regrets the Helsinki daily: in other words, public- and private-sector organisations are more committed to the cause than national governments. Turun Sanomat, the Finnish daily based in Turku, reports that Warsaw and Moscow pledge to build a “network of sewerage plants to reduce the discharge of polluted wastewater”. And over in Tallinn, the daily Postimees hails the Estonian announcement of a law "to protect the Baltic Sea environment from now to 2014".

The shocking disclosure of British scientists’ private correspondence on the eve of the Copenhagen Climate Conference (COP15) is turning into a tale of espionage. “The climatologists’ e-mails were pilfered from Russia,” headlines Mladá Fronta DNES on the second day of the summit. According to investigators, the hackers cracked the entry code of the British climate researchers’ server from the Siberian city of Tomsk. So the Czech daily advances the theory – now taken up by the British press – of a plot hatched by Moscow. Seeing as Russia is among the world’s leading natural gas and petrol producers, as well as being one of the biggest polluters, it would clearly serve its interests to discredit a conference that seeks to clinch an international deal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Nine energy ministers have signed a declaration to set up a grid connecting present and future wind farms in the North Sea, announces De Morgen. A “red-letter deal”, headlines the Flemish daily, explaining that the participating countries (Belgium, France, Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, Great Britain, Ireland, Sweden and Denmark) have thereby guaranteed their future energy supply. Even in the unlikely event of a windless day in the entire area, Norway has signed up to the project to supply hydro power, adds the paper. By 2020 the EU aims to generate 150 gigawatts of wind power (as against 7 GW pro tem), which will involve stepping up turbine construction. Bart Bode, head of the Flemish Sustainable Energy Organisation, hopes the project will have knock-on effects:  “Why not set up a solar power grid in the Mediterranean countries?”