Gennaio 2014 - Futuro Sostenibile

Home » Posts made in Gennaio, 2014

EU Energy Crisis

Europe is beset by rising energy prices, driven by the increasing competitiveness of shale production in the US, political commitments to lower emissions and an over-reliance on Russia in the wake of unrest in the Middle East and North Africa. Britain’s Big Six, the six dominant energy companies, face accusations of overcharging, but they in turn claim that prohibitive emissions targets and governmental “green levies” are to blame for the price increase. While the US is benefiting from a shale gas boom that is predicted to give it an edge over both the EU and China for the next two decades, fracking is struggling to take off in Europe due to high costs, geological difficulties and public ambivalence to the environmentally destructive production methods. European politicians are considering abandoning the 2030 renewable energy targets in light of these high costs.

Shell annonce une reduction de ses investissements

Le nouveau patron de Royal Dutch Shell, Ben van Beurden, aurait souhaité une entrée en scène plus brillante. Mais depuis son avertissement sur résultats du 17 janvier – le premier en dix ans –, on savait que les résultats 2013 de la compagnie pétrolière anglo-néerlandaise seraient mauvais. Elle a annoncé, jeudi 30 janvier, une chute de 39% de son bénéfice net, à 16,4 milliards de dollars (12 milliards d’euros), en raison de difficultés dans le raffinage, de ruptures de production au Nigeria et de mauvais résultats aux Etats-Unis, où elle a englouti la moitié de ses investissements.

EU Environment Panel Backs Faster Approval of Carbon Fix

The European Parliament’s environment committee agreed to accelerate the adoption of a rescue plan for the bloc’s emissions market, which the European Commission wants to start as soon as possible. Carbon prices rose as much as 3.6 percent after the panel voted 43 to 13 to shorten the measure’s usual three-month scrutiny period in the Parliament. The recommendation now needs approval from all heads of the assembly’s other committees before it goes to a plenary, which can end the obligatory evaluation before an April deadline.

Penguins, Study finds Climate Change is another danger

Life has never been easy for just-hatched Magellanic penguins, but climate change is making it worse, according to a decades-long study of the largest breeding colony of the birds. The chicks are already vulnerable to predation and starvation. Now, the study at Punta Tombo, Argentina, found that intense storms and warmer temperatures are increasingly taking a toll. “Rainfall is killing a lot of penguins, and so is heat,” said P. Dee Boersma, a University of Washington scientist and lead author of thestudy. “And those are two new causes.”

Il nuovo quadro strategico europeo per il clima e l’energia

di Carlo Carraro

Obiettivo 2030. Con il 40% di riduzione delle emissioni di gas serra rispetto ai livelli del 1990, almeno il 27% del mix energetico proveniente da fonti rinnovabili e un cambiamento strutturale al mercato delle emissioni europeo. Sono queste le principali proposte emerse dalla Comunicazione “A policy framework for climate and energy in the period from 2020 to 2030” – “Un quadro strategico per il clima e l’energia nel periodo 2020-2030”, adottata lo scorso 22 gennaio e presentata a Bruxelles dal presidente della Commissione J. M. Barroso congiuntamente a C. Hedegaard, Commissario Europeo per l’Azione per il Clima e G. Oettinger, Commissario Europeo per l’Energia.