http://www.endseurope.com/news ENDS Europe: Europe's environmental news service Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:03:36 GMT Saturday Sunday 180 http://www.endseurope.com/feeds/europeLogo318x66.png http://www.endseurope.com/news http://www.endseurope.com/23470?rss=news The UN's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) must be replaced by a new instrument that encourages private investment to help emitters meet their CO2 reduction pledges, emissions trading association IETA has said. In a report published on Friday, the association attempts to sell the concept of sectoral Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.endseurope.com/23471?rss=news Former Dutch environment minister Jacqueline Cramer has asked environmental assessment agency PBL to check for further errors in the 2007 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), it said on Monday. The international scientific authority has come under increasing fire in the Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.endseurope.com/23476?rss=news Authorities do not have to provide absolute proof of responsibility for environmental damage before requiring an installation to clean up a polluted area, EU judges said on Tuesday. But they must carry out an investigation first. Authorities must also make sure they can provide "plausible evidence" Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.endseurope.com/23477?rss=news Karl-Heinz Florenz's proposed target for collecting waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) in 2016 means the existing EU rate will need to double, according to a study issued on Friday by the United Nations University. The German MEP proposes a target of 65% by weight of EEE products Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.endseurope.com/23459?rss=news EU ombudsman Nikiforos Diamandouros has criticised the European Commission for failing to make public three letters from German carmaker Porsche relating to legislation on reducing car CO2 emissions. The ombudsman called on the commission to disclose the letters 15 months ago following a request Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.endseurope.com/23462?rss=news The European Commission should use €180m in unspent funding under the EU economic recovery package to finance a risk insurance scheme for the geothermal industry, trade association EGEC said on Friday. The call was made after the commission announced €2.3bn for gas and electricity Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.endseurope.com/23464?rss=news The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has proposed to add eight chemicals to a list of substances of very high concern (SVHCs). Chemicals on the list could eventually be subject to tough authorisation requirements under REACH. The chemicals, which include trichloroethylene, sodium chromate, boric Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.endseurope.com/23465?rss=news The European Commission will table a legislative proposal on the treatment of radioactive waste before the end of the year, commission president José Manuel Barroso told a nuclear energy conference on Monday. Energy commissioner Günther Oettinger hinted at legislation on nuclear waste at Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.endseurope.com/23466?rss=news The environment committee of the Czech Sciences Academy has urged the country's government to keep restrictions on coal mining. The government is under pressure to abolish the 1991 restrictions to increase production and help bring unemployment down. The government considered removing them several Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.endseurope.com/23446?rss=news Biofuel policy could lead to a 6.5% increase in crop prices in Europe, assuming a 7% share of biofuels in transport by 2020, according to a draft report from the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC). Ethanol prices would increase by 8%. EU prices for oilseeds and plant oils would Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.endseurope.com/23447?rss=news German environment minister Norbert Röttgen has called on the EU to adopt stricter requirements for exporters in its revision of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) directive to prove that the material they export is not actually waste. The call was made on Thursday as the minister Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.endseurope.com/23448?rss=news Italy breached EU waste legislation by failing to ensure waste was being disposed without endangering health and the environment during the 2007 waste crisis in Naples in the Campania region, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) said on Thursday. The member state should have put in place an Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.endseurope.com/23452?rss=news Tax commissioner Algirdas Šemeta will table a proposal for an EU carbon tax on energy use in coming months, it emerged this week. The proposal was first announced by his predecessor László Kovács but it was delayed because of internal wrangling. Mr Šemeta believes Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.endseurope.com/23438?rss=news Nordic countries are in a unique position to implement and use flexible mechanisms that allow a member state struggling to meet its renewable energy target to seek help from other EU countries, a study issued by the Nordic Council of Ministers has shown. Their long history of cooperation on energy Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.endseurope.com/23439?rss=news A report released by the German federal environment agency earlier this week has shown transport emissions in the country could drop by 43% by 2020 through a mixture of measures such as traffic reduction, charges and energy efficiency legislation. The agency believes that only 80% of these measures Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.endseurope.com/23440?rss=news Summer smog in Europe was at its lowest levels in a decade last year, according to a report issued on Wednesday. An hourly threshold of 180 micrograms per cubic metre (ug/m3) was exceeded by a fifth of around 2,000 monitoring stations across the EU. By comparison the threshold was exceeded by a Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.endseurope.com/23444?rss=news Some companies are likely to be at a significant competitive disadvantage because of the large carbon allowance surpluses other firms will carry over from the second to the third phase of the EU emissions trading (ETS) scheme in 2013, a report has warned. Companies without surpluses from the second Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.endseurope.com/23429?rss=news The European Commission unveiled a successor to the Lisbon strategy for growth and jobs on Wednesday, setting five EU targets for 2020 including Europe's energy and climate goals. It proposes several "flagship" initiatives to achieve these targets. One of these initiatives, entitled "Resource Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.endseurope.com/23430?rss=news The European Commission must propose ambitious detailed criteria for determining the good environmental status of EU seas under the marine strategy framework directive, Brussels-based NGO Seas at Risk has said. The criteria must be adopted by 15 July. The detailed measures are intended to help Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.endseurope.com/23431?rss=news The Polish environment ministry announced on Wednesday that it had sold €30m worth of allocation allowance units (AAUs) to a “Japanese partner representing the private sector”. Poland sold a similar amount of surplus Kyoto carbon credits to Spain last November. In a statement, the Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT