LONDON, Dec 15 (Reuters) – Ambitious targets for
renewable electricity in the medium-term are likely unfeasible,
given they demand forced, early write-offs of fossil fuel power
plants and may downplay rival shale gas and the unpredictability
of wind and solar power.

The European Commission on Thursday unveiled its “Energy
Roadmap 2050″ laying out options for making sweeping carbon
emissions cuts through a combination of efficiency and renewable
energy and other low-carbon technology.

LONDON, Dec 12 (Reuters) – Even by the standards of
U.N. climate meetings, with their jargon, rhetoric and countless
committees, when a whole conference overruns by 36 hours
something must be up.

Environment ministers tried to sweep aside a 16-year-old
divide between industrialised and developing countries at a
meeting in Durban, South Africa, which finally wrapped up at
5.00 a.m. on Sunday.

LONDON, Dec 9 (Reuters) – Solar power prices have
plunged to levels that are nearly competitive with conventional
grid power, without subsidies, and at a pace that has
wrong-footed lagging estimates by consultants.

Prices of solar equipment are dropping as Chinese
manufacturers ramp up capacity at the same time as key markets
Italy and Germany pare subsidies. New economic turmoil will curb
demand and pressure prices further.

LONDON, Nov 24 (Reuters) – The European Union’s
emissions trading scheme now needs rescuing, but only on new
terms which better address its main aims and eradicate some of
its failings, using a price floor.

The scheme, launched in 2005, is at a cross-roads, as carbon
prices plunge to record lows and the fact dawns on traders that
there may be no strong recovery for more than a decade.

LONDON (Reuters) – Rising temperatures are driving more frequent bouts of extreme weather which governments should heed with climate action even as the world economy teeters.

Global carbon emissions rose by a record amount last year rebounding on the heels of recession, showing the problem remains even when economies plummet.

LONDON, Nov 14 (Reuters) – The European Union wants
bio-energy use to rise by more than half by 2020 arguing that
the energy source is carbon neutral: the trouble is it isn’t,
and the target should in fact be scrapped.

Such a move would face huge opposition from farming,
forestry and energy lobbies and slow or reverse a multi-billion
-euro bio-energy industry in Europe.

LONDON, Oct 14 (Reuters) – Voluntary curbs on population
through improved education could ease poverty and environmental
pressures including carbon emissions but is ignored politically
as the world passes 7 billion people because of long-standing
taboos.

Discussion of fertility rates is unpalatable to religious
institutions, for example opposed to contraception, and is often
viewed as a private matter by conservative governments.

LONDON, Oct 12 (Reuters) – The European Union’s efforts to
establish the full carbon emissions from burning bio-energy is
an all but impossible task which illustrates the difficulty of
trying to cut humankind’s environmental impact, which first has
to be measured.

The complexity of trying to link energy crops including corn
for ethanol on one side of the planet with carbon emissions on
the other is a tangled web of cause and effects which might
recall an equation in atmospheric physics.

LONDON (Reuters) – The European Union took a step closer on Thursday to limiting world airline carbon emissions, which may point towards wider border measures against high-carbon industries and countries given a void in international climate action.

The EU is the first jurisdiction to try and limit carbon emissions beyond its own borders, acting to shield the competitiveness of domestic airlines from participation in its own emissions trading scheme from next year.

LONDON, Oct 6 (Reuters) – The European Union took a step
closer on Thursday to limiting world airline carbon emissions,
which may point towards wider border measures against
high-carbon industries and countries given a void in
international climate action.

The EU is the first jurisdiction to try and limit carbon
emissions beyond its own borders, acting to shield the
competitiveness of domestic airlines from participation in its
own emissions trading scheme from next year.