European Union News - Environmnet

The European Environment Agency (EEA) published two reports which shows that European governments could simultaneously reduce income tax, increase innovation and cut pollution by introducing well-targeted environmental taxes and recycling the revenues back into the economy.

Two new European projects, AMITRAN ('Assessment methodologies for ICT in multimodal transport from user behaviour to CO2 reduction') and INGOS ('Integrated non-CO2 greenhouse gas observation system') launched with the aim to investigate how to measure greenhouse gases.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) published a report in which states the benefits of recycling for the economy, among which providing raw materials, creating jobs and encouraging business opportunities and innovation. The Agency also states that revenues from recycling are substantial and growing fast.

Thanks to the MARINET 'Marine renewables infrastructure network' initiative, companies from countries FP7 countries will access to test facilities in specialist marine renewable energy centres across Europe. This initiative funded with €9 million Euro, will help remove some of the financial barriers that sometimes stand in the way of access to world-class European testing facilities.

The project BIOBOOST ('Biomass-based energy intermediates boosting biofuel production'), which will be launched early 2012, aims to promote and develop energy resources based on residual biomass. This project meets the general opinion of EU citizens who support research to promote and develop alternative energy resources.

According to an analysis from the European Environment Agency (EEA), homes energy is responsible for one quarter of European greenhouse emissions. Homes in the EU only emit 12% of energy emissions directly, but this doubles when related emissions from power plants and district heating are factored in.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) published a report which shows that several carmakers need to make their fleets even more carbon-efficient in order to meet 2012 carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions target. The data also show that almost all manufacturers must reduce emissions to meet 2015 targets under European legislation for new passenger cars.

According to the results of a project carried out by German scientists, pollution caused by improper use of insecticides may result in a significant increase in the levels of contamination of watercourses in Europe. The study also proposes the creation of buffer zones along the streams to help reduce the presence of insecticides.

A German-US team of scientists has demonstrated how threshold values for wildfires exist and could help to set standards in order to improve predictions about how and when these fires can change. These findings put forward by EU-funded project PATRES may also help to reconsider fire fighting strategies.