Blogposts tagged 'Europe'

We've been investigating overfishing in West African waters for a long time and our new report, ‘Empty Nets, Empty Future’ shows, in a stark light, how the local fishing industry in West Africa is under threat.

Back in 2007 when the European Commission was trying to agree a law that would force car makers to produce less-polluting cars, I saw first hand how car manufacturers tried every trick in the book to stop it being passed.

Why are car companies hiding their progress? Photo: drinksmachine

It's not often you see car companies trying to hide their green achievements. We're more used to seeing them worn boastfully on the outside. The way Superman wears his underpants.

So why would they hide them now?

The Corporate Social Responsibility guys must be choking on their almond croissants. Today's news is something they want to shout about: fast, tangible progress on vehicle efficiency technology that reduces emissions. Greener cars, greener company. This time they don't have to make it up. But they're being hushed up by the lobbyists in the boardroom, who know that talking about these gains is going to counter their main argument with politicians: that their companies can't comply with proposed CO2 targets in time.

The past few days have seen a couple of pretty important meetings in Spain about the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (the CFP). You might not have seen much coverage, which isn't that surprising when there's an election going on, nor when you appreciate that very few people know what CFP stands for. Amongst fishy circles, the acronym is often re-interpreted, but I'm too polite to say what the F would stand for.