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How to fix a biofuels policy: a guide for the European Parliament

This week six committees in the European Parliament will vote on the Commission’s proposal to address indirect land-use change (ILUC) emissions related to the EU’s biofuels policy. This is all in the run up to the vote in the leading committee - Environment, Public Health and Food Safety on 10 July and the plenary vote in September. It is unusual that so many committees are deciding on such a technical file at this stage in the process. So, this blog is a little guide for busy Members of the European Parliament on what is really important to keep in mind when thinking about the environmental, social and economic implications of the EU’s biofuels policy.

Having your cake and trying to eat it too - international aviation emissions and historical responsibility

Developing countries argue that action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions should start with developed countries because they have the greatest historical responsibility for generating CO2 emissions and thus causing the bulk of global warming. At the recent abortive round of deliberations of the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) High Level Group, these arguments came to the fore again. During the discussions to find consensus around global action to address aviation’s contribution to climate change, China, India and Brazil revived old arguments that they have no responsibility to act, not even at differentiated levels, because of these historical issues enshrined in the global climate negotiations.

Europe, the battlefield for a greener world?

This blogpost by Joao Vieira, T&E's President, also appears as the foreword to our Annual Review Report.The EU is about peace, first and foremost. But as a political battlefield, it has few equals. In that context, we would summarise 2012 as the year that: Europe made it through the year in one piece, green transport policies suffered, were sometimes wounded, but soldiered on, and, last but not least, T&E played its role in the troops - quite often on the frontline.

The real story behind the latest EEA emissions figures (part 2)

This blog is part 2 of an analysis of 20 years of CO2 emission trends in transport (1990-2010) as recently published by the European Environment Agency. The first blog focused on overall trends, and on aviation and shipping. In this post Jos Dings, T&E director, looks into individual countries’ performance, in particular when set next to their economic performance, and challenges the common belief that, after all, transport emissions are an almost inevitable by-product of economic growth.

The real story behind the latest EEA emissions figures (part 1)

A closer look at Europe's latest annual emissions figures reveals some reasons for concern.  In the first of a two-part blog, T&E's Director Jos Dings explains the reality behind the EEA's numbers.