Search Results for: Climate change

By David Crozier, European University Association

As in all other world regions, European higher education is currently in the throes of major transformation. The Bologna Declaration of 1999 triggered wide-scale reform across the continent, and over the past few years, not only has the introduction of new degree structures taken centre stage, but a range of other European and national higher education and research issues have found synergies with the Bologna reforms to create possibly the most potent change process ever experienced in a major world region.…

BY BILL CORCORAN, in Johannesburg

A SIGNIFICANT amount of change is still required regarding the ethnic make-up of management within South Africa’s liquid fuels industry if the country’s Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) targets are to be met within the sector, according to experts.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has advised on which foodstuffs should carry nutritional or health claim information in future, to help the European Commission draft an approved claim list by 2010. EFSA’s scientific panel on dietetic products, nutrition and allergies has concluded that the Commission’s main concern should be "the potential of a food to adversely affect overall dietary balance" given accepted nutrient intake recommendations.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) ministers meeting in two councils this past week have pledged to subject the European Commission’s recent green energy and climate change proposals to a rigorous cost effectiveness assessment.

Communiqués issues by both the Council of Ministers for energy and competition, stressed that the proposals must stand up as economically viable to secure member states’ support.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A LEAKED report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has claimed that CO2 emissions from shipping maybe three times more intense than previously estimated. Its assessments were based on analysis by Intertanko, the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners, which concluded shipping worldwide emits 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 – 4.5% of global emissions – thrice previous estimates of 400 million tonnes.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

WHEN oil and gas executives think of European Union (EU) funding for their projects or companies, they may consider the European Commission, with its high profile in energy spending and investment. But there is another EU institution with an important role as a financial fountainhead for European energy loans: the European Investment Bank (EIB).…

BY JULIAN RYALL, in Hokkaido, northern Japan

THE LEADERS of the Group of Eight (G8) nations are meeting in the Hokkaido, Japan, town of Toyako (NOTE: Spelling is correct – NOT Tokyo) July 7-9, with the environment and energy top of the agenda.…

BY LUCY JONES, in Dallas; ALAN OSBORN, in London; KARRYN CARTELLE, in Tokyo; BILL CORCORAN, in Johannesburg; PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut; RACHEL JONES, in Caracas; MARK ROWE; and KEITH NUTHALL

WITH the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Doha Development Round being slow to proceed since its 2001 launch – and only this year approaching something resembling and end game – free traders wanting to encourage global commerce have looked to bilateral and regional trade deals.…

BY MARK ROWE

THE ANNOUNCEMENT by the UK government that it intends to build a new generation of nuclear power plants stands out, not just because of the scale of the proposals, but because it is the first such comprehensive initiative in Europe for some years.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

INTERNATIONAL standards are crucial for the trade in goods, because they allow

importers to have confidence that the foreign product they are buying meets the

specifications they are familiar with at home. So, it may come as some surprise that no

such global standard currently exists as regards the technical definition of biofuels.…