Search Results for: Germany

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) transport sector will be legally charged with helping Europe reduce its greenhouse gas emissions from 2013, should a new proposal from the European Commission become law. Under a tabled ‘effort sharing’ directive, economic sectors not included within the European Union’s (EU) current and future emissions trading regime, should also help fight global warming.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL and CHRIS JONES, in Brussels

INTENSE well-informed debates are likely to follow the release in January of a comprehensive package of legislation by the European Commission on fighting climate change through emissions trading, renewable energy, pollution caps, biofuels and environmental state aid.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has released expert advice telling food manufacturers to take better care to avoid contamination ready-to-eat meals with the toxin Listeria. It raised concern about a lack of care in preparation practices such as slicing of manufactured meat products, maintaining storage temperatures, ensuring good hygiene practices and properly training food handlers.…

BY MARK ROWE

RUSSIA has engaged in a series of political and economic spats with its former Soviet satellites and the European Union (EU) in the first years of the 21st century. And while stand-offs over Belarus sugar and Moldovan wine might raise eyebrows in the West, disputes over the vast energy resources in Russia and its Central Asian neighbours carry an altogether darker shade, mainly because Russia supplies 25% of the EU’s oil and 25% of its gas.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

HEAVIER vehicles such as SUVs and luxury models will be able to breach a proposed European Union (EU) carbon dioxide cap, under formally proposed legislation now tabled by the European Commission. Pressure from German manufacturers forced Brussels into abandoning an absolute cap for all new models of 130 grams of CO2 per kilometre.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

THE NEXT twelve months – say to Easter 2009 – could prove of fundamental significance for the development of European Union (EU) energy policy on several fronts. In January this year, the European Commission published its long-awaited proposals on renewable energies and CO2 saving, and history may well judge this to be the moment when the EU turned decisively green.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

BRITISH emergency planners will be amongst local authority environmental specialists receiving special training and investment funding from the European Commission over the next two years. Brussels has announced Euro 4.07 million of grants, with "helping municipalities prepare for climate change and any resulting floods," being a key issue.…

BY MARK GODFREY, in Beijing

A WALK down the supermarket aisles in a Beijing residential area reveals much about the state of China’s cosmetics scene. Pick up a bottle of shampoo at the Jingkelong (NOTE – SPELLING IS CORRECT) store on Gongti Bei Lu street (NOTE – SPELLING IS CORRECT) and chances are the blue-aproned assistants will shuffle over to recommend another.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A DIVISION of contracts for building, launching and operating the Galileo global positioning service has been made by the European Union Council of Ministers. This follows the approval of spending an additional Euro 2.4 billion to create the satellite network.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has effectively ruled that exempting financial contingency reserves created by nuclear power stations from taxation should not be considered illegal state aid. Judges threw out an appeal brought by Germany municipal suppliers against a judgement made by the ECJ’s Court of First Instance.…