European Union News - Environmnet

Starting today, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development invites all Europeans to cast their vote in the final stage of the EU organic logo competition. The new logo aims to enhance consumer protection and promote organic farming.

World best experts in environment, ministers and heads of state and non-governmental organizations of the 192 member countries of the UNFCCC will beet at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, between December 7 and December 18, 2009. This will be the last conference to prepare the post-Kyoto. For the first time, the United States will be present.

The European Commission will tonight present awards to European companies and public authorities for outstanding achievements in environmental management. The annual European Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) Awards celebrate and promote best practice in managing the environment. The award ceremony will take place at the National Museum of Sweden in Stockholm

All buildings built after 31 December 2020 must have high energy-saving standards and be powered to a large extent by renewable energy. Public authorities will lead the way two years earlier and part of the funding for these changes will come from the EU. These are among the key points of a deal reached  between Parliament and Council negotiators.

The EU is on track to deliver on its Kyoto Protocol commitments for reducing or limiting emissions of greenhouse gases, the Commission's annual progress report on emissions shows. The latest projections indicate that the EU-15 will meet its 8% reduction target under Kyoto; 10 of the 12 remaining Member States of the EU have also individual commitments under the protocol. It is projected that they will reduce their emissions to 6 or 8% below base year levels.

At a conference in Brussels, Belgium on 6 November, European Commission Vice-President Günter Verheugen, and Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik restated the EU's commitment to the reduction of animal testing.

Ministers from Poland and Spain, along with representatives of the EBRD and EIB were present for the signature of the agreement facilitated by the EBRD-EIB’s Multilateral Carbon Credit Fund. The transaction, which represents 25 M€ emissions trading, will allow significant greenhouse gas emissions reductions through Green Investment Scheme (GIS).

The European Commission and the European Environment Agency have launched a comprehensive new European pollutant release and transfer register – E-PRTR. The register contains information about the emissions of pollutants to air, water and land by industrial facilities throughout Europe. It includes annual data for 91 substances and covers more than 24 000 facilities in 65 economic activities. It also provides additional information, such as the amount and types of waste transferred from facilities to waste handlers both inside and outside each country.

Researchers partially funded by the European Union will be using state-of-the-art technology to look into building underwater observatories that will monitor underwater seismic activity in the eastern Mediterranean. As populations grow in the region, scientists have been developing ways of looking for signs of earthquakes before they happen.