Welcome ! As a young French Marketing professional with a Master's in International Management I have been selecting since January 2007 the latest headlines and best researches on sustainable development, climate change, cleantech and the world energy sector. Sounds great ? Don't hesitate to subscribe now !
China is facing a grim future because of climate change, massive pollutions and increasing prices of fossil fuels. To curb its booming energy consumption, it may soon introduce a carbon tax. As China Daily noted :
” China is considering levying a carbon tax within the next three years to tighten its regulations on polluting industries and put the economy on a greener path. (…) The main targets of the tax will be large users of coal, crude oil and natural gas.”
Even if some analysts have called this a hoax, Climate Spectator reminds us the many reasons why a carbon tax is actually the way to go for China, but also for ALL nations…
Oh the irony ! As you know, fossil fuels are heavily subsided. I have written a few articles here on how ending those subsidies would be a major boost to renewables. Well it seems they don’t quite need it.
As Bloomberg notes : “Wind in some cases already is, or can in coming years, be fully cost-competitive with fossil fuels,” (…) “Fossil-fuel prices will continue to rise, and that increases the competitiveness of new technologies.”
” We are preparing the whole industry for getting off the subsidy-need.” So, are we just keep on giving money to dirty filthy solutions just so they can keep on polluting our air, soil and water ? Continue »
Here is my latest post on Cleantechies : “The European Environment Agency published in November a report on the cost, the toll, of air pollution due to industrial facilities to the European Union. “
” And the costs are staggering as the 10,000 facilities induced up to 102 and 169 billion euros in 2009 alone. However, a small number of these plants are responsible for the vast majority of this pollution. “
As usual to keep reading the article, please check it out there. I hope you will like it and look forward to reading your comments.
If you aren’t familiar with US environmental politics, you might not have heard about Big Oil’s latest craze : building a 1.700 mile (2,736 km) long pipeline to bring tar sands oil extracted from Canada to the US Gulf coast.
After many twists and turns, President Barack Obama – the green Prez that should have been – seem to have finally decided to reject this huge and polluting project, and this albeit the important political pressure.
Is this the first step toward a more sustainable America ? Let’s hope Mr. Obama will fight on green issues. Not only will this help him get reelected, it would also help us all…
Here is something we never heard about before. To the Associated Press : ” Environmentalists estimate at least 1 percent of Russia’s annual oil production, or 5 million tons, is spilled every year.
That is equivalent to one Deepwater Horizon-scale leak about every two months. Crumbling infrastructure and a harsh climate combine to spell disaster in the world’s largest oil producer, responsible for 13 percent of global output.
(…) Half a million tons every year get into rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean, the government says, upsetting the delicate environmental balance in those waters.
As you sure know, the Durban Climate talks ended Sunday. There are some good news, but they are mostly bad. Good news first : The Kyoto Protocol has been extended until 2017.
Another good news : the Durban agreement was the first ever to bind all countries to act on climate change. Sure, this is merely halfway through business as usual and the needed target.
But this is the further we have ever been on climate negotiation ! Even if it won’t be enough, even if it is far from what should be done at a global level, we are going forward on climate. Continue »
I have been committed since January 2007 to bring you each month a selection of the latest headlines and best researches on sustainable development, climate change and the world energy sector.
However, I don’t blog as much as I would like to and generally write around 25 posts per month. But many more news are worth reading. This is why I use Twitter to share dozens of news that are worth your time.
I believe it offers a good complement to this website. So if you are on Twitter and like this selection, don’t hesitate to start following me. Continue »
I blogged two years ago that CCS won’t solve the climate change problem as it is too risky, too expansive, too little and… too late. Joe Romm, the main contributor behind Climate Progress recently noted :
” There are simply too many unanswered questions for anyone to say today that we could rely on large-scale deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage in the 2030s as a major climate solution. “
Since we need to slash our emissions NOW – and certainly not by 2030 – we can see how useless CCS is. We should work on real solutions instead : energy efficiency, sobriety, renewables and nuclear.
These are great news, just in time for the current climate talks taking place in Durban as to a new report from Bloomberg, global investments in renewables are surpassing for the first time ever the amounts invested in fossil fuels.
With economies of scale and scope, both solar energy and wind power are getting cheaper and cheaper, making them already seriously compete with much dirtier energy sources.
As a result, last year over $187 billion (141 billion euros) were invested in renewables and only $157 billion (118 billion euros) in fossil fuels. This is only the beginning. Continue »
According to the IEA’s annual report, the situation is getting bleaker and bleaker. Confirming that we have five years to start decreasing our global emissions – cf. my previous post on that very matter – it is also providing several other findings.
As you can sure imagine, several websites published lengthy articles on the very matter. In today’s article we will review the main findings and the most essential parts of the World Energy Outlook 2011.
World leaders will meet again very soon in Durban, South Africa, to discuss about the future of the Kyoto Protocol. It’s time they, we, step up and heed the calls for serious actions. Continue »
