15 Sep 2008 - WWF launched
its first public
awareness campaign in Serbia, focused on
climate change and energy conservation.
“Our aim is to raise
public awareness of the problem of climate
change in Serbia as well as the many practical
opportunities Serbs have to save energy,
which increasingly means saving money as
well as saving the climate,” said Andreas
Beckmann of the WWF Danube-Carpathian Programme.
Serbia has one of the
highest carbon footprints per capita of
any country in Europe. It is also one of
the continent’s most inefficient users of
energy, with energy use more than twice
as inefficient as that of West European
countries. There is therefore great potential
to save energy, starting with simple things
like changing light bulbs and turning off
stand by functions to buying energy efficient
appliances.
The campaign, which
began September 3 with a press conference
and will last two months, is focused around
the WWF Climate Tour that is travelling
this fall through Hungary, Poland, the Czech
Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and
Ukraine.
The tour, which features
a mobile exhibit on climate change and practical
energy solutions, includes stops in Belgrade
on September 26-27, Subotica on September
28 and Novi Sad on September 29. In addition,
the campaign includes significant media
work on issues of climate change and related
issues.
The campaign in Serbia
is being implemented by WWF in cooperation
with the Young Researchers of Serbia. The
main sponsor for the campaign is the Toyota
Europe Foundation. Supporting partners include
OM Ogilvy, which is providing creatives
as well as media placement, and All Round
Communications, providing PR support, and
the Serbian Institute for Nature Conservation.
Media partners for the
campaign include B92, with TV, radio, and
internet; myserbia.net; TRIP magazine; Radio
3; as well as Akzent Media and Alma Quattro,
who are both providing free space for outdoor
advertising.
Campaign website: http://www.panda.org/serbia
Andreas Beckmann
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Environmental groups
denounce EU Parliament committee attempt
to boycott emissions trading scheme
11 Sep 2008 - Brussels,
Belgium – The European Parliament’s industry
committee is trying to ditch the EU Emissions
Trading Scheme (ETS) and to boycott 2020
climate targets, environmental groups said
following today’s vote on how the carbon
market should operate after 2012.
The committee voted
to delay or even prevent the planned shift
from a 20 to a 30% emission reduction target,
on condition that an international climate
deal is reached next year.
“Today’s decision backtracks
on the commitments made by the EU last year.
The industry committee have clearly put
short-term economic interests before innovation
and technology development that would lead
to longer term benefits, such as new jobs
and a more secure energy system in Europe,”
said Sanjeev Kumar, ETS expert at WWF’s
European Policy Office.
Environmental NGOs denounce
the committee’s attempt to allow certain
carbon-intensive industries to continue
polluting largely for free, by reducing
the amount of allowances they will be obliged
to purchase. This decision has not been
backed up by evidence proving that they
would suffer undue economic disadvantage
compared to similar companies outside the
EU.
In addition, the vote
would allow companies to have access to
even more emission reduction credits from
projects in developing countries, further
reducing the effort required by companies
to reduce emissions within the EU.
This vote allows an
even higher access to external credits than
the Commission proposed, which means that
the cuts required domestically inside the
EU amount to only around 15%. The rest of
the emissions reduction effort can be undertaken
through dubious projects outside of the
EU. No legally binding, strong quality criteria
have been imposed on external credits.
“This vote weakens the
domestic emission reduction efforts required
by Europe. If other developed countries
followed the EU’s lead, the world would
be on course for at least a 3.6°C increase
in average global temperatures above pre-industrial
levels,” said Tomas Wyns, CAN Europe ETS
expert.
The industry committee
has in effect discounted Europe’s responsibility
to fight dangerous climate change. This
is not only completely irresponsible but
also the results of this vote will endanger
the EU’s credibility at the international
climate negotiations.
Environmental groups
argue that it is crucial that the environment
committee ignores today's disappointing
outcome in the industry committee. Environmental
groups call on the environment committee
– which will vote in early October – to
vote to improve the environmental effectiveness
of the emissions trading scheme.
Notes to editors
• The vote at the European Parliament comes
as WWF, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth
Europe and the Climate Action Network have
launched a high profile campaign on crucial
legislation to determine the European Union’s
contribution to the fight against climate
change. The ‘Time to Lead’ campaign (www.timetolead.eu)
is asking EU decision-makers to take action
consistent with avoiding the most catastrophic
effects of global warming by keeping global
temperatures below 2°C.
• The EU has repeatedly committed to climate
policies aimed at keeping average global
temperature increases below 2°C above
pre-industrial levels.
• The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) clearly states that emission
reductions in developed countries should
be between 25-40% by 2020 for the world
to have a chance of staying below 2°C
global warming.
Tomas Wyns, Climate Action Network Europe
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Dutch firms push for offshore power
15 Sep 2008 - Twenty
major Dutch companies are piling the pressure
on their government to speed up the construction
of wind parks in the North Sea.
Ahead of the Dutch parliament
re-opening tomorrow, and in conjunction
with WWF-Netherlands, the firms took out
double-page advertisements in leading Dutch
newspapers.
They are calling for
the generation of 6,000 megawatts from North
Sea wind parks. That would be enough energy
to run all trains in the Netherlands and
to power six million homes.
“Research undertaken
by WWF Netherlands shows that the majority
of Dutch people would vote for offshore
wind energy,” said Johan van de Gronden,
CEO, WWF-Netherlands.
“The support of this
group of companies, which represents all
of the important sectors from the business
community, is a sign that the cabinet cannot
ignore.”
In June WWF Netherlands
unveiled the “Offshore Wind Energy Initiative
Group” which comprised five leading Dutch
companies including major energy companies,
the national railway company NS, a major
bank (Rabo) and a leading company in the
field of sustainable energy production and
wind farms (Econcern).
The latest push has
seen the addition to the campaign of 15
more firms including construction company
Ballast Nedam, Siemens, Dutch telecom firm
KPN and Delft University of Technology.
“Wind energy and all
other forms of offshore sustainable energy
represent economic opportunities,” said
Ad van Wijk, Chairman of the Board, Econcern.
“In the Netherlands sustainable energy is
also the answer to climate change and it
will create a new industry with thousands
of jobs.”
