Ecology

Montreuil, Bruxelles, le 24 février 2015 – En plein salon de l’Agriculture, les Amis de la Terre Europe et la Fondation Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung publient la version française de « L’Atlas de la viande ». Son constat est sans appel : la production industrielle de viande et de produits laitiers a des effets de plus en plus destructeurs sur les sociétés humaines et l’environnement.

In March 2014, parliamentarians from the Euro-Latin America Parliamentary Assembly (EuroLat) voted in favour of a resolution on “Trade in raw materials between the European Union and Latin America”. The resolution stresses that a transition towards a different model is needed and suggests several practical steps to improve the current situation.

Barbara Unmüßig, Co-President of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, contributed to Project Syndicate by demanding radical goals for sustainable development to succeed the United Nations' Millenium Development Goals.

The COP 20’s “Lima call for climate action” is no wake-up call but a worrisome sign of a feeble multilateral climate process plagued by political deafness and leaving poor and vulnerable communities alone with the impacts of climate change.

The Ban Ki-moon Climate Summit, with the expected participation of more than 120 heads of states and high-ranking government officials from over 160 countries, is not part of the official UN climate negotiations process. Nevertheless, when the UN Secretary General announced the special summit more than a year ago, he did so certainly in hopes that government heads would strive to display decisive actions and announce ambitious emissions reduction goals to grease the path to a new global climate deal post-2020.

In many countries, solar energy is enjoying great success – photovoltaic modules are increasingly affordable and available to those interested in producing their own electricity. In the Czech Republic, however, those investing in and building solar power stations must constantly resist efforts by the government to destabilise the business environment, writes Martin Sedlák, Director of the Alliance for Energy Independence.

The French version of the study ‘Renewables: The Only Path to a Secure, Affordable and Climate-friendly Energy System by 2030’, published today by the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union, demonstrates that a renewable strategy would prove to be much cheaper for the EU than a conventional strategy.

The problem in Poland is the coal-based structure of the energy sector. This results in the highest external costs for the production of energy in the EU, contributing to the loss of 1.2 million days’ pay annually as an effect of health problems.

Will the French government really take  a major energy, societal and economic change forward and seize the opportunities the Energy Transition offers? Or will it listen to vested interests in nuclear power and fossil fuels?

Energy policy has certainly become a popular sport in the UK these days. With the country preparing for a general election in a year’s time, the topic is now becoming a big political football.