European Union News - Environmnet

Raising $100 billion per year by 2020 in developing countries “will be challenging but it can be done” according to a European Commission staff working document on "Scaling up international climate finance after 2012". The staff working report also states that it is possible if the right balance is struck between public funding, funding raised from international carbon markets, as well as private funds, partly leveraged by development banks.

25 winners from 14 countries across the three categories have been awarded this year's edition of the energy efficiency awards which is managed by the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission's in-house science arm.

Running from 11 to 15 April, the EU Sustainable Energy Week will feature this year nearly 150 events in Brussels and over 450 Energy Days throughout 43 countries in Europe and around the Mediterranean, with more than 30,000 participants. This includes presentations of new projects, debates and conferences. The core event will take place in Brussels in order to debate on the best use of energy efficiency and renewable energy across Europe.

In the framework of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Space Situational Awareness (SSA) programme, researchers from the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in Germany have developed a new space surveillance system to keep abreast of the increasing quantities of space debris floating around the orbital highway.

The European Transport Council held in Brussels on 31 March adopted the first CO2 emission standards for small vans in the EU. This rules introduces a limit of 175g CO2/km for the average CO2 emissions from light commercial vehicles registered in the EU and will apply to small vans of average mass while specific targets for individual vehicles will vary according to their weight.

As EU environment ministers met for an informal two-day council meeting in Hungary, Committee of the Regions' President Mercedes Bresso highlighted the vital importance of involving local and regional authorities within sustainable development programmes, proposing to enlarge the scope of the Covenant of Mayors from energy savings to the entire Resource efficient Europe agenda, in particular with regard to sustainable water management. President Bresso also suggested the use of EU Project Bonds in the sector of eco-infrastructures.

The European Commission has presented on 28 March EU's comprehensive Transport 2050 Strategy which aims to created a competitive transport system that will increase mobility, remove major barriers in key areas and fuel growth and employment. This strategy described in the Transport 2011 White Paper for a Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area, also contains proposals to reduce Europe's dependence on imported oil and cut carbon emissions in transport by 60% by 2050.

At the second part of the meeting of the Council of the European Union held in Brussels between 24 and 25 March, Heads of State and Government debated over the lessons to be drawn from the events that occurred in Japan, notably as regards nuclear safety. In this regard, the Council has recalled that the energy mix is the competence of Member States, and has agreed to make safety revisions on all nuclear plants.

The European Parliament will once again mark "Earth Hour" by switching off lights in all its buildings for on Saturday 26 March from 20.30h to 21.30h. This initiative, which begun in Sydney in 2007, is a global environmental actions aimed to raise awareness of the need to take act on climate change.

According to a Eurobarometer survey about two-thirds of EU car users said it was likely they would compromise on a car's speed in order to reduce emissions. Furthermore, more than half motorists  agreed with existing car charges being replaced by new charging schemes based on the actual use of their vehicle and, while most users choose to drive a car because of its convenience, nearly three quarters of EU citizens said they would consider using public transport more frequently if it would be possible to buy a single ticket covering all transport modes.