European Union News - Environmnet

The European Commission has called on Europe's information and communication technologies (ICT) industry to outline by 2011 the practical steps it will take to become 20% more energy efficient by 2015. ICT equipment and services alone account for about 8% of electrical power used in the EU and about 2% of carbon emissions. But using ICT in a smart way could help reducing energy consumption in energy-hungry sectors such as buildings, transport and logistics, and save 15% in total carbon emissions by 2020.

The Official Journal of the European Union has announced on the 7th October the publication of the Special Report No 11/2009 ‘The sustainability and the Commission’s management of the LIFE- Nature projects’  of the European Court of Auditors.

Open Days University has focused its attention on one of the most important issues in the European Union and the world: climate change. Experts from different European regions have presented their proposals and concerns on the issue.

With the United Nations summit on climate change in Copenhagen just around the corner, local and regional solutions to this environmental problem is one of the priorities of the Open Days 2009. A full track of workshops that make up this great meeting concerns about "Regions and climate change: Europe's way to sustainable regional development"

The Committee of the Regions' plenary session, to be held on 5 and 7 October, in parallel with the OPEN DAYS - European Week of Regions and Cities, will reflect the main themes in current EU institutional and political affairs. The session's main theme will be the battle against the effects of climate change and preparations at regional and municipal level for the Copenhagen summit.

The European Commission has today adopted a comprehensive Action Plan on Urban Mobility. The Action Plan proposes twenty concrete Commission takes action to make urban travel greener, better organised and more user-friendly

This afternoon will meet at its 456th plenary session of the EESC representatives of the Swedish Presidency and European Union President Jose Manuel Barroso with various organizations in employment and vocational training, to discuss the crisis.

Among the 100 projects submitted, the jury of this first design competition of Economic and Social Committee has chosen the "Bee House" (House of bees) Irish James Ennis, as the winner of the first European Award for a Sustainable Present. The project will be awarded with 10,000 euros and will be produced in the EU according to sustainability criteria and creativity.

After a year of work, the European Foresight Expert Group 'The World in 2025' has now presented their findings at conference in Brussels on 24 September. Meeting the challenges of the near future, they write in a new report, may mean moving towards a new production and consumption model, new rural-urban dynamics, and a new gender and intergenerational balance.

The Council adopted a revised eco-design directive following a first-reading agreement with the European Parliament. The new directive extends the scope of the existing directive 2005/32 by covering in principle all energy-related products.

The Swedish Presidency of the EU and the European Commission have called on international negotiators to make decisive progress towards an ambitious global climate change agreement at two weeks of world climate talks in Bangkok starting on 28 September. The Bangkok meeting is the penultimate preparatory session before the Copenhagen U.N. climate conference in December at which the global deal is due to be concluded.