BRUSSELS, May 20 (Reuters) – The Trans Adriatic Pipeline gas
consortium took a step forward on Thursday, signing Germany’s
E.ON Ruhrgas <EONGn.DE> as a partner and irking its rivals in
the race to carry gas to Europe from the Caspian region.

E.ON Ruhrgas brings with it a well developed gas market in
Italy, helping the 1.5 billion euros ($1.86 billion) pipeline
compete for Azerbaijan’s future gas supplies with rivals such as
the ITGI pipeline, and the 7.9 billion euro Nabucco project.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – All new buildings constructed in Europe after 2020 will have to be virtually carbon-neutral after the European Parliament gave new energy standards the last approval they needed Tuesday.

The standards are expected to have a significant long-term impact on the EU’s bills for gas imports for heating from Russia, Norway and Algeria, worth tens of billions of euros each year.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European recession last year slashed more than 11 percent off the amount of climate-warming emissions from heavy industry, the European Union’s executive said on Tuesday.

The EU said carbon dioxide emissions from the more than 11,000 installations regulated by its Emissions Trading Scheme fell by 11.6 percent to 1.873 billion tonnes.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Europe’s new fisheries chief opened her first fishing quota talks on Monday, saying tougher measures were needed to bring species back from danger to more commercially viable levels.

About 60 percent of European Union fish stocks are outside safe biological limits, but fishing nations continue to catch around 34 percent more than scientists say is sustainable.

BRUSSELS, May 17 (Reuters) – Europe’s most polluting
industries have reaped billions of euros from carbon markets by
passing on to consumers the cost of carbon permits they were
given for free, consultancy CE Delft said on Monday.

The company’s report on steel, refining and petrochemicals
industries contributes to a current debate within the European
Union on whether industry can bear the cost of tightening
emissions curbs beyond the current goal of 20 percent.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The economic crisis might well have made it cheaper for European industry to deepen cuts to climate-warming emissions, but it has also left companies too weak to face the challenge, industry groups said on Friday.

Environmentalists accused industry of lying about the cost, saying many sectors had reaped huge windfall profits from Europe’s efforts to clamp down on carbon emissions through its carbon market, the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

BRUSSELS, May 6 (Reuters) – The European Union will play no
part in a Russian proposal that would give Moscow control over
Ukrainian gas pipelines, Europe’s single biggest gas import
route and a key to energy security, the bloc’s energy chief said
on Thursday.

The EU will not get involved for the moment in Russia’s
proposal to merge its energy giant Gazprom <GAZP.MM> with
Ukraine’s Naftogaz, said EU energy commissioner Guenther
Oettinger, the man in charge of the EU’s energy strategy.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Five hundred European Union cities pledged on Tuesday to exceed the EU’s climate targets, signing up to do more to cut their emissions of climate warming gas.

The EU plans to cut carbon dioxide emissions to one fifth below 1990 levels over the next decade, but the coalition of cities signed up to the Covenant of Mayors which aims to outperform that goal by sharing knowledge and low-carbon strategies.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European transport ministers have agreed to set safety limits for flying in volcanic ash and to swiftly unify European airspace, but they are wary of granting financial aid to airlines grounded by such crises.

The European Commission won support for plans to push forward its “Single Skies” package at a meeting held as Britain and Ireland closed airports for several hours again due to further drifting ash from the Icelandic volcano.

BRUSSELS, May 4 (Reuters) – Vans and light trucks should be
fitted with mandatory speed limiters in the European Union to
prevent them exceeding 120 km per hour and improve their fuel
efficiency, according to an EU report.

The recommendation comes in a paper setting out the European
Parliament’s preliminary stance as the EU starts debating cuts
to carbon emissions from vans.