Climate Change & Energy

Latest in Energy

• Greening taxes and subsidies in the Pacific

  IEEP will share its expertise on environmental taxation and the reform of environmentally harmful subsidies at a forum event on greening taxation and subsidies in the Pacific region during the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Hawaii.

• New report launch: Call for a new vision for responsible renewable energy with a clear European dimension

  Claude Turmes MEP hosted an event launching both IEEP’s report and a debate on the future of renewable energy in Europe. In the our report IEEP present how a resource efficient energy system might be delivered in a way that minimises impact on biodiversity and the wider environment.

• New report: delivering low carbon transport fuels post 2020

  How should EU policy support the transition to low carbon transport fuels post 2020? A new IEEP led report argues that future policies should be differentiated to tailor support towards specific objectives and technologies that offer the greatest potential for a low carbon future.

• New report is out: delivering low carbon transport fuels post 2020

  How should EU policy support the transition to low carbon transport fuels post 2020? A new IEEP led report argues that future policies should be differentiated to tailor support towards specific objectives and technologies that offer the greatest potential for a low carbon future.

• Conclusion on ILUC in sight

  After five years of discussion, a landmark moment has been reached whereby the indirect land use change (ILUC) impacts of biofuels almost certainly will be addressed in EU law.

• Building a high value bioeconomy in the UK: opportunities from waste

  The UK is exploring opportunities to develop a high value bioeconomy based initially on waste. IEEP is helping to identify international best practice examples in order to maximise the environmental and economic benefits of this new Government initiative.

• Estimating support for fossil fuel subsidies in the EU-28

  New study by IVM, VITO, IEEP and BIO identifies and quantifies government support to fossil fuels in the EU-28. Significant support is provided through reduced excise taxes, with EU-wide tax expenditures estimated to be between EUR 28 billion and EUR 200 billion depending on the benchmark used.

• Getting delivery right: the EU 2030 climate and energy targets and the challenge of governance

  The EU’s commitment to GHG reductions of “at least” 40% by 2030 are a useful contribution to international climate negotiations. But does the package of energy targets offered by the European Council at the same time put us on the right track to long-term decarbonisation goals? IEEP’s Martin Nesbit offers a personal perspective on what needs to be done, and how the governance arrangements need to be tightened.

• The Manual: Chapter 3 - Climate change

  This is a chapter of IEEP’s Manual of European Environmental Policy. This chapter on EU climate change policy outlines the initial EU programme to stabilise CO2 emissions in the EU with explanations of the directives, decisions and legislation that were employed to improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions.

• The Manual: Chapter 13 - Sectoral policies

  This is a chapter of IEEP’s Manual of European Environmental Policy. This chapter sets out the development of some of the most important links between EU environmental policy and other policy areas, such as agriculture, forestry, fisheries, transport, trade, and so on.

• Europe’s Climate and Energy Crossroads – IEEP seminars for MEPs on climate and energy issues

  IEEP has prepared two briefing documents on the climate and energy challenge in Central and Eastern European Member States, and in Southern European Member States. The briefings are background for a seminar we are organising for Members of the European Parliament, the first in a series on Europe’s Climate and Energy Crossroads.

• The EU’s 2030 climate and energy targets – a triumph of short-termism?

  European leaders have raised the stakes for the Paris talks by agreeing a set of climate and energy targets for 2030. The challenge will be to implement the tortuous detail on energy policy in a way which matches with longer term decarbonisation ambitions.

• Greener Britain: Practical proposals for party manifestos from the environment and conservation sector

  A coalition of the UK’s leading environmental groups, including IEEP, is calling for all political parties to commit to a greener Britain by 2020 by pledging seven major priorities to reform the way we use energy, build communities and protect nature.

• Press release - Biofuels don’t deliver but bioresources have promise

  Biofuels produced from conventional agricultural crops deliver only limited reductions in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and compete for limited supplies of land.

• Environmental policy and the UK’s review of the EU Balance of Competences

  The UK Government’s Balance of Competences review has now taken evidence on 25 subject areas, including the 6 with the most relevance for the Environment. We take stock of the IEEP’s contributions, and consider what a possible UK renegotiation might mean for the environment.

• Ministers place biofuels in a policy vacuum

  Energy Ministers today failed to agree reforms to the EU laws that promote the use of biofuels for transport. Current EU legislation is flawed and unfit for the purpose of delivering verifiable greenhouse gas emission reductions from the transport sector.

• IEEP at the conference ‘Next MFF: incentives and safeguards for climate friendly investments’

  Axel Volkery, Head of the Environmental Governance Programme, presented the final results of the European Commission study ‘Optimal use of EU grants and financial instruments in the next Multiannual Financial Framework to achieve the climate objective’ at a high level conference organised in the European Parliament.

• IEEP presentation on EU budget and green economy

  Axel Volkery, Head of the Environmental Governance Programme, gave a presentation on the role of the 2014-2020 EU Multi-annual Financial Framework to kick start the transition towards a green and low carbon economy at a public hearing in the European Economic and Social Committee.

• The sustainability of advanced biofuels in the EU

  Using wastes and residues for biofuels has many advantages. But ensuring sustainability and including safeguards in EU legislation are critical issues.

• Alternative means of reducing CO2 emissions from UK road transport

  Up to 2020 greater use of renewable electricity is the leading alternative to biofuels to reduce the carbon intensity of car and rail transport fuels. To realise this potential requires a mix of responses, including: increasing the decarbonisation of existing transport fuels; improving the energy efficiency of vehicles; and changing the way vehicles are used.