BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Greenhouse gases from the European Union rose more than 2 percent in 2010 when a cold winter and a rebound in many economies drove up energy use, breaking a multi-year pattern of emissions declines.

The year-on-year rise in the official EU data released on Wednesday was slowed by emissions declines in struggling Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain.

BRUSSELS, May 26 (Reuters) – The United States and Japan
need to tackle their tax issues and China must relax
restrictions on the yuan as they share responsibility with
Europe for restoring global economic health, EU leaders said
ahead of a June summit of the G20 economies.

In a letter addressed to all 27 European Union nations,
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European
Council President Herman Van Rompuy said Europe was doing all it
could.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The United States and Japan must tackle their tax issues and China must relax restrictions on the yuan, as they share responsibility with Europe for restoring global economic health, EU leaders said ahead of a June summit of the G20 leading economies.

In a letter addressed to all 27 European Union nations, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said Europe was doing it all it could.

BRUSSELS, May 24 (Reuters) – Rising tensions with India and
China over the European Union’s “arrogant” law on carbon
emissions could rob the region of the markets that can rescue it
from economic malaise, airline leaders said on Thursday.

They also said they had prepared contingency plans for a
possible exit of Greece from the euro, as part of the industry’s
extensive crisis management, and they were worried about a
domino effect of more country’s being forced out of the currency
bloc, with implications for all businesses.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Germany has asked for discussion on deeper EU carbon emissions cuts to be put on the agenda at a meeting of environment ministers in June, EU sources said.

If agreed, a more ambitious target could help to spur the European Union’s carbon market, which has sunk to record lows.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Indebted Greeks and nervous Olympians could draw relief from the latest European Union bathing report.

It finds the waters of Greece, so crucial to much-needed tourist revenues, are among the most pristine in Europe and confirms London’s Serpentine Lake, where Olympic triathletes will swim in competition, is clean enough to swim in.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union’s tax chief wants carmakers to drop their opposition to proposals to change EU fuel taxation that are expected to halt a rise in diesel use, saying they will be given a decade to adapt engine production to a new regime.

Germany, Europe’s biggest centre of car production and home to diesel-engine giant Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE: Quote, Profile, Research), stands to lose most from the proposal to revise the rules for minimum fuel tax levels across the European Union.

BRUSSELS, May 21 (Reuters) – An energy policy vacuum is
looming in the European Union after a firm set of policy goals
for renewable energy, carbon cutting and energy saving expires
in 2020.

To open up the debate on policy direction for renewable
energy, the Commission has put together a communication,
expected to be published officially next month.

SAMSO, Denmark, May 17 (Reuters) – Over a beer or two, Danes
like to tell a story that goes like this: One night the energy
ministers of the countries around the North Sea got together to
divide up its oil and gas wealth. The Danish minister got very
drunk, but the Norwegian managed to stay sober. As a result,
Norway carved out a jagged shape that included Ekofisk, which
has proved to be a major field, and Denmark was left with the
dregs.

Regarded as a model of how to spend oil and gas wealth
wisely, Norway has stashed away surplus revenues from exports
while hydropower caters for the bulk of its domestic electricity
needs.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission is in close contact with the United States and the International Energy Agency (IEA) but sees no immediate need for any release of oil stocks, the EU’s energy chief said on Wednesday.

Oil markets have been on alert for a possible release from strategic reserves after news in March the United States had held talks with the British and French on the issue.