I was quite surprised this week when I attended a conference organised by the Greens in the European Parliament and saw them do the lobbying for a grand solar industrial project which I think still has a lot of uncertainties and even environmental dangers. The DESERTEC project aims at building huge concentrating solar thermal power [...]

Christian Egenhofer from Brussels think tank The Centre for European Policy Studies looks into what it will take to stabilise CO2 concentration in the Earth’s atmosphere at 550 ppm – a “modest scenario”, as he says, which would mean accepting a raise of around 35% from present CO2 levels and a “managable” level of climate [...]

Stephan Singer from the Brussles office of the World Wildlife Fund surprisingly backs European Commission President José Manuel Barroso in arguing that climate change protection is the most likely candidate for a European project that could actually create passion with citizens throughout the continent. Singer urges the EU to take radically decarbonize by bringing CO2 [...]

Enel, the former Italian electricity monopolist, now has operations in eleven countries in Europe and the Americas. Andrea Valcalda, who is in charge of the company’s envirnonmental and innovation projects, strongly argues in favour of more environmental responsibility and more investment into advanced technologies from energy companies. Original post by alecelliott

Monica Frassoni, the Co-President of the Green Group in the European Parliament ,rides an attack against the term “low-carbon technologies” which, she says, mixes up a range of “virtuous and less virtuous” approaches, which are “not the same in terms of their capacity to tackle climate change”. She urges the Commission to give priority to [...]

Monica Frassoni, the Co-President of the Green Group in the European Parliament ,rides an attack against the term “low-carbon technologies” which, she says, mixes up a range of “virtuous and less virtuous” approaches, which are “not the same in terms of their capacity to tackle climate change”. She urges the Commission to give priority to [...]

What’s the idea behind the Commission’s Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan, which was adopted last Thursday and will be discussed? What are the targets and what role can technology play? Is it really a field for community action, and do European carbon markets need to be reformed? Iñigo Sabater from the Commission’s Energy and Transport [...]

EurActiv Managing Editor Frédéric Simon, who moderated the first in a series of three Speak Up Energy Events, confronted listeners with a series of Very Big Numbers. He set the scene for future climate change policies in Europe and elsewhere, but also for what was going to be a lively discussion on what the EU [...]

In Hamburg, 25 metropolitan regions committed themselves to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 80% before 2050. Delegates of cities such as Amsterdam, Lyon, Stockholm, Hamburg, Frankfurt or München signed the joined declaration during a special climate change conference of the Network of European Metropolitan Regions and Areas (METREX). So, another piece of evidence that [...]

Invigorating energy reform in Kosovo and Serbia has the ability to partially override the current political impasses of the region. The roadmap towards energy security has been laid out in a series of international treaties and European Union (EU) standards obligations. Now invigorated domestic efforts are needed to make energy reform a priority, including the [...]

A global tax on wasted energy – especially the heat discarded by thermal, power-only generation plants – would be a powerful incentive for generators to begin to replace inefficient plant with CHP stations, says Aleksandar Kovacevic. Original post by alecelliott

Eight minute interview with Monica Frassoni, MEP and Co-President of the GREENS/EFA Group in the European Parliament. Mrs Frassoni draws a clear distinction between different forms of ‘low carbon’ technology, taking issue with the term itself: “When you talk about nuclear and clean coal, you are not talking about renewables, and you are not talking [...]

12 minute interview with Roberto Zangrandi, Head of European Affairs at Enel, during the lead-up to the first “Speak Up Europe” energy debate. “We are a former monopolist … operating in a country with no direct fuel resources. … The green MPs have very well argued views …  […] Original post by blogarchitect

This controversial video is currently shown in African cinemas. It has been produced in Switzerland, with some EU support. Maybe the next step is a video showing dead African immigrants arriving on Europe’s Southern borders? What a shame for Europe that it has no other message than that. Original post by brusselsblogger

We’ve set up this blog to help make our ‘Speak Up Europe’ work in the field of EU energy & climate policy more interactive. To begin with, we’ll use it to blog our cycle of three debates on EU energy policy. The first is being held in Brussels this Thursday (Debate 1 – programme, pdf). [...]