61 News & Press Releases found
Transport and Environment (T&E) News
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Commission misses opportunity to get biofuel policy right
With today’s biofuel proposal, the European Commission has acknowledged the climate impact of biofuel emissions from indirect land-use change (ILUC) [1] but does not tackle it. The proposed obligation to monitor ILUC emissions from biofuels ...
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Proposed new biofuel policy doesn’t cause job losses, report says
Biodiesel industry claims that addressing indirect land-use change (ILUC) emissions from biofuels would cause massive job losses in rural areas are groundless, a recent study shows. The report, authored by consultancy Ecofys (1), concludes that it ...
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High carbon oil: California backs law to move away from dirty oil, while Europe is still talking
Europe’s climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard is meeting EU environment ministers today to discuss Europe’s plan to force oil companies to clean up transport fuels. The meeting comes amid a long-running lobbying campaign by Canada and ...
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Fundamental rethink needed on EU biofuels policy
The United Nations’ special rapporteur on the right to food has called for an urgent rethink in EU biofuels policy before too much investment is made on the back of unsustainable biofuels targets. His comments come as more evidence emerges ...
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Encouraging lower carbon intensity
T&E`s Nusa Urbancic writes in today`s edition of the Financial Times: The FT accuses the European Union fuel quality directive of being an “attempt to single out Canada’s oil as uniquely dangerous”. Poppycock. To do so would ...
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Commission recognises climate impact of unconventional oil in fuel quality directive
Petrol and diesel made from tar sands, coal, gas and oil shale will be assigned a different carbon footprint than fuels from conventional oil, if a proposal from the Commission is supported by EU member states. After years of lobbying by Canada and ...
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EU biofuels policy ‘not supported by science’
More than 150 scientists and economists have written to the Commission calling for it to recognise that biofuels production can have indirect impacts on land-use, and for the resulting emissions to be taken into account in assessing which biofuels ...
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Ship speed limits are legal and save fuel
Requiring ships to slow down is an environmentally beneficial option that is both legal and does not damage ships. These were just some of the findings to emerge from a seminar earlier this month organised by T&E and another NGO, Seas at Risk. ...
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Carmaker fuel efficiency cost claims misleading
The average car sold in Europe last year was 4% more fuel efficient, emitted 4% less CO2 and was 2.5% cheaper in real terms than a year earlier, according to a new report. The new figures, which continue recent trends, severely undermine industry ...
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EU is miscalculating climate benefits of biofuels, says EEA
A new report says the EU is seriously miscalculating the contribution biofuels can make to tackling global warming. It calls on the EU to review its bioenergy laws, but the recommendation comes as the EU looks set to postpone by seven years the ...
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Environmental NGOs urge Barroso to tackle biofuel concerns
The European Commission must give due consideration to the latest scientific results on indirect land use change (ILUC) when assessing biofuels` sustainability and come up with a long overdue legislative proposal that gives each feedstock a specific ...
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EU scientists confirm bio-energy accounting error
A major carbon accounting flaw in EU legislation whereby biofuels used in transport and biomass used for power generation are counted as ‘zero emissions’ will have “immense” consequences for the environment. This is the key ...
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Porsche SUV to get ‘green rating’ under new German labelling scheme
Environmental groups are calling on the European Commission to block a planned German car CO2 label that gives gas guzzling SUVs such as the Porsche Cayenne and Audi Q7 the same ‘green’ rating as some of Europe’s most fuel ...
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New biofuels legal action shows ‘access to information’ rules are not working
The Commission is being taken to court for the third time over an alleged failure to release information regarding the environmental impact of biofuels. The latest action relates to information about voluntary certification schemes that could play a ...
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Leading world organisations warn on biofuels
A report by a coalition of leading inter-governmental organisations has called for an end to all subsidies and targets for biofuels. The report, whose backers include the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organisation, ...
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Transport strategy puts its trust in ‘miraculous’ technology after 2030
The Commission has published its long awaited white paper on the future of the common transport policy. Instead of being a policy outline for the next decade, it is presented more as a strategy for transport in 2050. T&E criticised it as ...
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Green NGOs urge renewable energy standards to be included in the ETS
Sustainability standards for bioenergy should be included in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) as they are in the Fuel Quality and Renewable Energy directives, according to a group of ten environmental NGOs including Transport & Environment. ...
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Time to consider investing in fuel-saving technologies
T&E`s Nusa Urbancic writes in today`s Financial Times: Sir, Your special report on oil and gas (March 21) highlighted renewed investor interest in biofuels and tar sand oil following recent rises in the oil price. But it failed to mention ...
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European Commission buries new data on tar sand impacts
Canadian pressure for u-turn on EU clean fuel law Brussels, Belgium - A scientific report (1) for the European Commission, published online yesterday and then immediately withdrawn, has confirmed that carbon emissions from Canadian tar sand oil ...
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EU weakens fuel efficiency standards for vans
The automotive industry, backed by the governments of Germany, Italy and France has succeeded in severely weakening an EU law setting CO2 standards for new vans. The deal, agreed this evening at a behind-closed-doors meeting of representatives of ...