BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Europe has boosted aid to flood-hit Pakistan but the country must rebuild infrastructure and replant forests if it is to withstand an increasing threat of climate disasters, the EU’s crisis response chief said.

Kristalina Georgieva flies to Pakistan on Monday to assess how to channel the EU’s 200 million euros ($256 million) of aid in areas where infrastructure has been destroyed, over 4 million people are homeless and disease and starvation are spreading.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The messages are tense, angry, cajoling.

Written between 2008 and January 2010 and sent between lobbyists, scientists and high-ranking European civil servants, they hint at the intense emotions in the debate over one of Europe’s most contentious environmental issues: the use of biofuels, long touted as an alternative to carbon-emitting petroleum.

But it’s not how the emails are written that’s important. It’s what’s in them — and the fact that if it were not for transparency laws, Europe’s citizens would be unaware of how vested interests have influenced the science behind a cornerstone of the continent’s clean energy policy.

BRUSSELS, July 5 (Reuters) – The messages are tense, angry,
cajoling.

Written between 2008 and January 2010 and sent between
lobbyists, scientists and high-ranking European civil servants,
they hint at the intense emotions in the debate over one of
Europe’s most contentious environmental issues: the use of
biofuels, long touted as an alternative to carbon-emitting
petroleum.

But it’s not how the emails are written that’s important.
It’s what’s in them — and the fact that if it were not for
transparency laws, Europe’s citizens would be unaware of how
vested interests have influenced the science behind a
cornerstone of the continent’s clean energy policy.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Wind turbine farms are set to expand rapidly across Europe’s coastal waters, throwing up challenges and opportunities for industry, according to a Reuters analysis of a leaked draft of EU energy strategies.

A picture of the European Union’s renewable energy landscape for 2020 is emerging for the first time as the bloc’s 27 member states scramble to meet a deadline for setting their “National Renewable Energy Action Plans”.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Wind turbine farms are set to expand rapidly across Europe’s coastal waters, throwing up challenges and opportunities for industry, according to a Reuters analysis of a leaked draft of EU energy strategies.

A picture of the European Union’s renewable energy landscape for 2020 is emerging for the first time as the bloc’s 27 member states scramble to meet a deadline for setting their “National Renewable Energy Action Plans.”

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union is considering 12 more years of state aid for coal, a draft European Commission document showed, even as the Group of 20 prepared to discuss phasing out fossil fuel subsidies this weekend.

The current EU subsidy regime expires this year, and European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia has said he intends to put forth a new plan in about two weeks.

BRUSSELS, June 23 (Reuters) – Europe’s energy chief warned
Belarus on Wednesday against tampering with gas flows to
Lithuania, describing a cut in Russian transit supplies to the
EU as an attack on the entire bloc.

Belarus threatened earlier in the day to halt all Russian
oil and gas flows to Europe if Moscow does not repay a debt for
gas transit, raising the stakes in a dispute that threatens EU
members Poland, Germany and Lithuania.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Old coal-fired power plants in Europe must be closed by the end of 2023 if their owners are not prepared to fit equipment to filter out acidifying pollutants, European Union member countries agreed on Friday.

All other power stations must start planning to cut out pollutants such as sulphur and nitrogen oxides that damage human health and soil and water quality.

BRUSSELS, June 17 (Reuters) – Old coal-fired power plants in
Europe must be closed by the end of 2023 if their owners are not
prepared to fit equipment to filter out acidifying pollutants,
following an informal EU deal, officials involved in talks said.

All other power stations must start planning to cut out
pollutants such as sulphur and nitrogen oxides that damage human
health and soil and water quality, said Holger Krahmer, who
represents the European Parliament in the talks.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Europe’s green-technology industries need determined political backing if they are to outpace rivals in Asia, Europe’s climate chief said on Wednesday.

European Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard observed the fine balance Europe must strike with China and other swiftly developing regions, sometimes as trade rivals and other times as partners in tackling climate change.