EU Green Transition: EU's green transition 'will have slightly positive economic effect'

The EU's move towards a carbon-neutral economy to tackle climate change will have a "slightly positive" economic effect, it's been claimed.

Valdis Dombrovskis, the EU's economy commissioner, speaking to Euronews in Berlin, admitted the green transition would have winners and losers but that it should be done in a "socially acceptable way".

EU countries reached a deal last month on making the bloc climate neutral by 2050.

It came after Brussels unveiled €100 billion in public and private funds to help the fossil-fuel reliant EU nations make the transition to lower emissions
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Dombrovskis, asked about the impact of the energy transition on citizens, said: "When we are discussing green transition, then it has to take place in a socially acceptable way. And actually the assessment is that it is going to have a slightly positive effect on the economy.

"Because on the one hand, one can say, yes, certain jobs will disappear, certain fossil fuels will get more expensive, but at the same time there will be many new jobs created in the green economy and there will be many new economies that will make green energy and the green transition affordable.

 Read more: The Brief: EU's green transition 'will have slightly positive economic effect' | Euronews

Denmark: Urban Ski Slope to Raise Profile of Europe's Waste-to-Energy Drive - by Thomas K. Grose

Copenhagen, with a waterfront already famous for bike lanes, pedestrian walkways, and offshore wind turbines, is adding another clean energy feature to its urban landscape: a ski resort.

Perhaps the man-made slope will never rival the summits of Sweden or the Alps, where residents of Denmark's capital city typically travel to ski. But it will draw attention to Copenhagen's world-leading effort to cut fossil energy and waste. The ski slope will rest atop a $389 million (500 million euro), 60-megawatt power station fueled entirely by the city's garbage.

The Amager Bakke incinerator, now under construction, will contribute to Copenhagen's ambitious goal of becoming carbon-neutral by 2025. When finished in 2017, it will produce heat for 160,000 households and electricity for 62,500 residences. It is perhaps the flashiest example yet of Europe's effort to deploy cutting-edge waste-to-energy technology in the effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions. While some critics in Europe's green movement question the environmental benefits, and cost also can be an obstacle, cities like Copenhagen are convinced that producing megawatts is better than piling trash in landfills.

Read more: Urban Ski Slope to Raise Profile of Europe's Waste-to-Energy Drive