EU Environmental Policies: Brussels Restricts Policy To Emission Reduction And Trading - by Sonja van Renssen

The European Commission’s 2030 climate and energy package unveiled on 22 January confines itself to two main proposals: a 40% binding greenhouse gas emission reduction target and legislative reform of the EU Emission Trading Scheme.

Significantly, it does not include post-2020 national renewable energy targets or new energy efficiency targets. It also drops the fuel quality directive which underpins the use of biofuels in the transport sector. The upshot of the proposals, if adopted by the EU Member States and the European Parliament, is that the EU’s climate policy will in future be carried out almost exclusively through the Emission Trading Scheme coupled with national  emission reduction targets.

The days of micromanagement from Brussels are over.

“A game-changer for investors in renewable energy” is how one analyst summed up the European Commission’s new climate and energy package, which aims to extend the EU’s climate policies beyond 2020 to 2030.

Read more: Brussels Restricts Policy To Emission Reduction And Trading | CleanTechnica

Independent.IE: Ireland - Firms face fine threat for failure to lower emissions - by PaulMelia

For the complete report from the Independent.ie click on this link

Ireland - Firms face fine threat for failure to lower emissions - by PaulMelia

Local authorities and transport companies that fail to meet targets on lowering their greenhouse gas emissions face being fined under a proposed climate change law. And a Dail committee has said the Taoiseach of the day must take personal responsibility for ensuring that binding targets to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels, such as oil, coal and gas, are met. The Dail Committee on Climate Change and Energy Security yesterday published draft legislation which aims to reduce Ireland's reliance on imported fossil fuels and transform itself into a green economy.

CNN World: EU leaders agree climate aid deal

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EU leaders agree climate aid deal

Meeting in Brussels Friday, at the conclusion of a two-day European Union (EU) summit leaders agreed that it would cost €100 billion ($148 billion) per year by 2020 to help developing nations adapt to climate change. The EU has pledged to give up to €50 billion ($74 billion) of that figure in public funds to help developing nations fight climate change.

Commenting on the deal at the summit's closing press conference, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barrosa said: "Today, the European Council has fully endorsed the figures put forward some weeks ago by the Commission that by 2020, developing countries will need around 100 billion euros a year to tackle climate change. We have a clear, ambitious, and unified EU message on climate finance."

EU ends the reign of the old fashioned high energy use light bulbs

EU-Digest

EU ends the reign of the old fashioned high energy use light bulbs

Today the curtains fell in the EU on the old fashioned light bulbs people have become so used to over the years but which have not been very cost effective. It is all part of a three-year scheme to rid the whole of the European Union of the traditional incandescent bulbs first put on the market by Thomas Edison in 1879. The new bulbs, such as compact florescent lights (CFL) can save up to 80 percent of the energy used by the old fashioned lights in homes. They are also described as lasting several times longer than the bulbs they will replace.

So even though the new bulbs cost more, the European Commission stresses that consumers will save money: between 25 to 50 euros a year, depending on the size of the household.

And while shops will be allowed to sell off their remaining stocks, as of today there will be no new orders of non-transparent frosted bulbs -- deemed particularly inefficient -- or the standard clear 100-watt bulbs. The less powerful clear bulbs will be progressively banned until all traditional lights disappear from shops in 2012. It's all part of the EU's bigger plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent by 2020. Judging from the orders received from Osram, one of the biggest light makers in Europe, people have already started buying more of the new generation bulbs.