Search Results for: Climate change

BY DEIRDRE MASON GAVIN BLAIR ANCA GURZU and KEITH NUTHALL

AS the Copenhagen conference charged with forging a new international climate change treaty gets under way this month, the auto industry worldwide will be looking closely at how the deliberations will affect its business.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

THE SYRIAN tobacco market, dominated by the state-run General Organisation of Tobacco (GOT), is witnessing substantial growth on the back of rising domestic demand and export of Syrian tobacco leaf, with average annual growth of 10% to 13%, according to the GOT.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

INNOVATION in recycling could get a boost with the planned appointment of Slovenia’s Janez Poto?nik as the next European Union (EU) environment Commissioner. Assuming he is confirmed in the position by the European Parliament, he should start work late January.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed reducing compulsory CO2 emission targets for vans by 14% to 175g/km, but relaxing an earlier draft compliance deadline from 2013 to 2016 (and phasing in reductions from 2014). Brussels’ easing of its proposals follows strong lobbying from the French and German governments for less ambitious targets.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AS the Copenhagen climate change conference looms the World Bank has issued a detailed report calling on governments to reduce "the fossil fuel intensity of energy" and the "overall energy intensity" of their countries’ economies. It says while very poor countries cannot reduce energy consumption and develop economically, this is possible for rich and emerging market countries.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A HOPEFUL sign that European Union (EU) and American energy policies could become more complimentary in the future has come with the launch of a new EU-US Energy Council in Washington. It will formalise transatlantic discussions on strategic energy issues such as security of supply and developing low carbon energy sources.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE LATEST proposed reforms to create a harmonised and modernised European Union (EU) customs code could increase duties textile and clothing products.

They could boost the customs valuation of these goods, inflating ad valorem tariffs.

One change would ban the use of the ‘first sale for export’ for valuations, where importers declare the price a foreign exporter paid to a local supplier before shipping the goods to Europe.…

By Paul Cochrane, in Beirut

Sanctions are one of those political issues that can make amiable dinner conversation turn unpleasant, as the battle lines are drawn down the table between those for and against. They have certainly had mixed success, starting with the first recorded case of a trade embargo some 2,400 years ago between Athens and neighboring Megara. That embargo failed and sparked a war.

Some argue they have had a spotty record since, while others prefer to pick-and-mix examples from embargoes through the ages to argue their case. The more pragmatic approach would be not whether sanctions “work,” but when and under what circumstances.

On one hand, those that are meant to oust a dictator but result in the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians – in Iraq for instance – can be considered counter-productive.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL and EMMA JACKSON

A POLITICAL battle royal is about to commence in Brussels over an overhaul of the European Union’s (EU) ‘waste from electrical and electronic equipment’ (WEEE) directive, a law that has essentially failed to push most of this material into the hands of recyclers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has unveiled details of how the new South Korean-European Union (EU) trade agreement will benefit the paint and coatings sector in Europe and South Korea. Notably, upon ratification of the agreement, 6.5% duties on EU imports of South Korean-made paints and varnishes, (based on synthetic and chemically modified polymers), will be scrapped, as will 6.5% tariffs on prepared driers.…