Search Results for: Poland

BY KEITH NUTHALL

IT appears the long debate over strictness of a planned carbon emission cap for cars in the European Union (EU) may at last be ending, with a compromise being framed for agreement ahead of Christmas.

An informal deal has been struck between representatives of the EU’s representative assembly the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers, which is made up of the union’s 27 member states.…

BY ERIC LYMAN

BATTLE lines have been drawn in negotiations to renew the Kyoto Protocol over the future shape of energy policy within future United Nations efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. At December’s climate change summit, in Poznan, Poland, a key power industry issue has emerged as a primary point of discord: whether or not carbon capture and storage technologies should be allowed in a revised Kyoto Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).…

BY MICHAEL ROSTON

ENERGY policy has been at the front and center of American politics, and played a major role in the 2008 presidential election. The candidates, Senators Barack Obama and John McCain, skirmished often on the best ways to deal with the cost of energy and global climate change, with Obama making the creation of millions of green jobs a centerpiece of his appeal to American voters.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE SALE of children’s clothes, shoes and accessories in Poland with a low 7% VAT rate could be under threat because of a case being launched by the European Commission at the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Brussels accuses Warsaw of breaking the European Union (EU) VAT directive because although this allows a limited list of items to attract a reduced rate of VAT, these do not include children’s clothes, shoes and accessories.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE POLISH government has proposed to the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers that upper and lower limits for CO2 permits within the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme should be established. Supported by the Baltic States, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia, Warsaw has argued that a price floor would allow renewable energy companies to continue investing without worrying about a collapse in carbon prices: under the current ETS, prices have fallen far from expectations.…

BY MARK ROWE

ONE of the major elements of the 2004 enlargement of the European Union (EU) was its intended expansion to these new member states of the Schengen agreement, which phases out checks at shared borders and allows free movement for all within the EU.…

BY MONIKA HANLEY

LATVIA’S textile and clothing industry is being hit hard in the recent reversal of the country’s economic fortunes, as competitors in the labour-intensive industry either close down or move production to cheaper locations.

In the first 10 months of 2008, the output of Latvian textile and clothing companies declined by approximately 7%-10%, most of it in the last few months, said the Latvian Association of Textile and Clothing Industry.…

BY RUSSELL BERMAN

THE US president-elect, Barack Obama, will take office later this month (Jan 20) having promised sweeping changes to America’s energy policy. This includes aggressive regulations on carbon emissions to combat climate change and substantially increased government funding for alternative energy with the aim of creating a new "green" sector of the American economy devoted to the development of renewable energy, energy efficiency, clean coal and other sources.…

BY PAUL RIGG

ROBBERIES, competition from immigrants and the state of the economy are the issues of most pressing concern for Spanish hauliers, according to drivers interviewed in truck stops on the outskirts of Madrid by Commercial Motor.

"I woke up with my kidneys and head hurting like I’d drunk a bottle of whisky," said Elias Calyo, 46, from Andalucia in the south of Spain.…

BY ERIC LYMAN

SPEAKING to the Petroleum Review, the United Nations’ top climate change official has urged oil and gas companies to stay focused on sustainability despite the world economic turmoil, and predicted that the coming years will reward efficiency more than ever.…