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- A history of the Rainbow Warrior, in pictures
- Stocks crash – massive reserves desperately needed
- UK thwarts EU crack down on gas guzzlers
- Stansted and City airports get the expansion go ahead
- Jayapura, east of Java: the final forest frontier
- TANC rolls into action
- The Rainbow Warrior is coming to the UK
- Greenpeace ship in Indonesia to investigate forest destruction
- London Sushi Awards ban endangered bluefin
- Petrol stations are pumping out bad biofuels
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- Airport loses High Court appeal
- Nuclear accidents and fatalities: the numbers
- Half of Europe's frogs face extinction
- India’s nuclear industry: life imitates The Simpsons once more
- Brazilian government faces criminal charges over Amazon deforestation
- Cracks appear in the French nuclear consensus
- new software for mobile phones that can measure transport carbon footprint
- Inspecting Britain's nuclear ‘renaissance’
- UK opposes green aviation target
- Quiz the climate change minister
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UK thwarts EU crack down on gas guzzlers
Posted by jossc on 10 October 2008.
Cars are responsible for 12 per cent of all CO2 emissions across the EU
Once again our government's green credentials have been put to the test and found wanting. Presented by the EU Parliament with a perfect opportunity to force Europe's motor industries to reign-in their gas guzzling, climate damaging ways, they opted instead to give in to the demands of the car lobby.
Read more »Stansted and City airports get the expansion go ahead
Posted by bex on 10 October 2008.
There've been two new blows to the UK's prospects of tackling climate change in the last couple of days.
First, City Airport got permission to increase flights to and from the airport by up to 50 per cent - despite the presence of dozens of flashmobbers registering their opposition outside Newham Town Hall (where the decision meeting was taking place), and local planners, teachers and campaigners from a number of organisations inside the hall. And despite the fact that the airport representatives couldn't and didn't even try to answer the accusations that they'd lied and their noise figures were inaccurate.
Read more »TANC rolls into action
Posted by jossc on 8 October 2008.
TANC - making headlines in the Shropshire Star
Telford Against New coal (TANC) yesterday launched their campaign to stop an opencast coal mine at the foot of the Wrekin Hills from getting planning permission. Besides the obvious climate change implications, the proposed 230 acre site would encroach into the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and ruin some of the largest and most valuable areas of ancient woodland in the county.
Read more »The Rainbow Warrior is coming to the UK
Posted by bex on 8 October 2008.
She's our world famous flagship, she's helped to win Greenpeace campaigns across the globe and now she's coming to the UK to persuade Gordon Brown to Give Coal the Boot.
Read more »Greenpeace ship in Indonesia to investigate forest destruction
Posted by tracy on 8 October 2008.
We're going to be a bit short staffed on the blog over the next couple of months - Jamie has joined our ship the Esperanza in Indonesia to help document forest and peatland destruction and collect evidence about the palm oil companies that are driving the devastation.
Read more »Petrol stations are pumping out bad biofuels
Posted by tracy on 7 October 2008.
We knew the government's plans on biofuels were a bit of a mess, but figures released today by the Renewable Fuel Agency show just how bad the situation is.
First off, the agency reports that 80 per cent of biofuels used in the UK don't meet government sustainability targets. In fact several companies, including BP and Esso, admitted that they didn't produce a single litre of biofuel that met the government's qualifying environmental standard.
Read more »Kingsnorth, Heathrow and the 80% target
Posted by bex on 7 October 2008.
The Independent Climate Change Commission has warned the government that it should cut all greenhouse emissions by 80 per cent by 2050 to tackle climate change.
In itself, this isn't particularly surprising; scientists have been recommending this for some time. More interesting - and very welcome - is that the commission wants to include aviation and shipping in the target. That means, for once, that 'all greenhouse gas emissions' pretty much means 'all greenhouse gas emissions'.
Read more »Miliband's new department - what does it mean for the climate?
Posted by bex on 3 October 2008.
Ed Miliband (image by Christian Guthier, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0)
Big news from this morning's Cabinet reshuffle: Gordon Brown has created a new department for climate change and energy, and Ed Miliband has been appointed its head.
This is, potentially, fantastic stuff. Until now, one department has been dealing with climate change and another - the department for business (DBERR) - with energy. This entirely nonsensical division hamstrung any chances of a coherent, low carbon energy policy and kept business and environmental interests at perpetual loggerheads. No prizes for guessing who usually won.
Read more »Google going green?
Posted by saunvedan on 3 October 2008.
Image by tuexperto_com5, licensed under Creative Commons
Google rules the virtual world but if it ruled the real one, would things be a bit different? Google.org which is the philanthropic arm of Google blogged that it wants to see America weaned off fossil fuels by 2030 for its electricity. Also, Google's own energy efficiency initiatives will be equivalent to shutting down 10-20 coal-fired power stations by 2010 if they are successful.
Read more »
How to fix the UK's renewables strategy
Posted by bex on 3 October 2008.
Given that we have the best renewable resources in the European Union, the fact that Britain languishes near the bottom of the European renewables league table is pretty humiliating.
On Monday though, the International Energy Agency added insult to injury. Britain's renewables strategy, it said, is 'ineffective' and 'very expensive'. The agency's new report (published here, but you have to pay) ranks Britain 31st out of 35 countries - "including all the major industrial nations such as the US, Germany and China" - in its green energy cost league. And our 'renewables effectiveness', it says, is a paltry three per cent.
Read more »

