EU countries spending billions of public funds on dirty fossil fuels. Top ten EU Member States have poured at least €78 billion euro into fossil fuel production since 1999, according to new research.
Yesterday in Berlin, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) “Pledging Conference” concluded with USD 9.3 billion being pledged in support of climate action in developing countries. The table below shows the countries that we know have pledged, including today’s (21/11/2014) pledge from Canada bringing the overall total to USD 9.438 billion.
A number of NGOs prepared this briefing for Members of the European Parliament to flag some of the most pressing issues related to climate and energy in the EU accession countries of Southeast Europe.
The November 2014 climate finance pledging conference is the time to fill the finance gap
The latest summary report from the IPCC launched by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last weekend tells some familiar stories. Dangerous climate change is already happening, here and now, and without action, it will get much worse. But the good news is that we still have time to deal with
The European Commission’s proposal for a Market Stability Reserve published on 22 January 2014 aims to create more price stability in the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) from 2021 onwards. Under the proposal, EU ETS allowances would automatically be put into the Market Stability Reserve when there is a
On the 28th of October, the European Environmental Agency (EEA) published its new ‘Trends and Projections’ report for 2014. This report is meant to track Europe’s progress towards achieving its 2020 climate and energy targets each year. It includes analysis for the current 2020 greenhouse gas and for the renewables
Need to know how much coal contributes to climate change? Curious about how many people die per year from coal pollution? Need stats on how many coal plants are planned around the world? Endcoal.org is a new website launched today by a suite of environmental, social justice and health advocates
This morning European leaders meeting at the European Council in Brussels agreed on a proposal for a new set of climate and energy targets for 2030. CAN Europe [1] is disappointed by their failure to adequately increase the levels of ambition for action on greenhouse gas emission reductions, renewable energy
During the upcoming European Summit of 23-24 October, European Union leaders should agree on a post-2020 climate and energy policy framework. As NGOs, we firmly believe that a set of three coherent, mutually supportive, ambitious and binding targets of at least 55% greenhouse gas emission reductions1, 40% energy savings and
This evening in Brussels, Miguel Arias Cañete, Commissioner-designate for Climate Action and Energy, faced tough questions from Members of the European Parliament, about his commitment to climate action and the low-carbon transformation of our energy system.
After the largest global people’s climate march in history, it would have been hard for most people to have overlooked the UN climate summit that took place in New York on Tuesday this week. What were the outcomes of this summit and will it be enough to set us on
CAN INTERNATIONAL AND GCCA REACTION The UNSG’s Climate Summit today contributed to the growing sense that the fossil fuel era is ending and delivered some momentum towards an international climate agreement to be signed in Paris next year, according to civil society groups organized in two major networks.
European Citizens summit attendees call upon leaders to increase climate action at New York Climate Summit. On the morning of the UN Climate Summit in New York [1], hundreds of people attending the European Citizens Summit [2] in Brussels have sent messages calling for their governments to ramp up action
European Citizens summit attendees call upon leaders to increase climate action at New York Climate Summit. On the morning of the UN Climate Summit in New York, hundreds of people attending the European Citizens Summit in Brussels sent messages calling for their governments to ramp up action on climate change.
A group of leading NGOs active in the Balkan region [1] are calling for urgent reform of the Energy Community Treaty, as its Ministerial Council prepares to meet in Kiev on September 23rd [2]. The groups are calling for both the expansion of the environmental and climate component of the
Debate held as major new report on the climate economy is launched and one week before the UN New York Climate Summit begins Today Members of the European Parliament engaged in a debate on the urgency of climate change calling for increased European action. The debate was held just ahead
Investment support and solidarity mechanisms under the EU’s 2030 climate and energy framework The solidarity and investment mechanisms, operating as part of the EU’s 2020 climate and energy package, do not adequately support energy sector decarbonisation in low income Member States, reveals a new analysis developed jointly by CAN Europe,
The Green 10, the alliance of leading environmental NGOs at EU level, supported by over 20 million EU citizens and active in all 28 Member States, wrote an open letter to President Jean-Claude Juncker to express grave concerns over the direction the EU seems to be taking with the announcement
Ahead of the ministerial meeting in the Western Balkans on the EU energy reform, Dragana Mileusnic calls for the adoption and the implementation of the new energy rules as soon as possible. A clear and speedy EU message will benefit not only the people but it will also ensure security
Will the European Commission slow progress on EU energy savings? Today the European Commission is expected to publish a proposal for a 2030 energy savings target, completing the initial climate and energy proposal released in January of 2014[1]. The proposal comes after much speculation that a target as low as
The “Europe’s Dirty 30” report exposes the top 30 CO2-polluting power plants in the EU, with Germany and the UK ranking joint first, with nine of the dirtiest coal plants each. dirty_30_report_finale.pdf
This report by CAN Europe, HEAL, WWF, EEB and Klima Allianz Germany exposes the top 30 CO2-polluting power plants in the EU, with Germany and the UK ranking joint first, with nine of the dirtiest coal plants each. If the EU is serious about meeting its climate targets and protecting the
CO2 emissions from coal power plants in the EU are undermining climate efforts, reveals the Europe’s Dirty 30 report, released today by CAN Europe, WWF, the European Environmental Bureau, the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) and Climate Alliance Germany.
CAN Europe, Oxfam, WWF, E3G, Greenpeace and EEB sent a letter to the Commission calling for the adoption of a 40% energy savings target for 2030 that is legally binding on all EU member states.
CAN Europe, in its latest working document “Towards a functioning low-carbon investment framework in Europe: the need to modernise increasingly prevalent traditional capacity remuneration mechanisms”, has analysed existing and potential CRMs, looking at their potential impacts on the functioning of the energy market and future investments. This briefing aims to
This report aims to enrich the debate by increasing the understanding of this complex topic among Environmental NGOs. The report analyses existing and potential capacity remuneration mechanisms (CRMs), a policy instrument capable of altering the energy market by creating additional revenue streams for capacity. Although some member states in Europe
From mitigating climate change, to keeping energy costs in check and improving energy security, energy efficiency provides a solution to some of the main challenges that have been facing European countries and our neighbours. This has been repeatedly recognised by the Commission and European Council. One would expect this broad
As the UNFCCC negotiations in Bonn wrapped up on Saturday, civil society organisations were left feeling both hopeful and cautious; nothing new there.
This document represents the agreed position on the Reform of the Energy Community. We call for the Energy Community to include a functioning enforcement mechanism. We demand that the EU’s environmental and social standards are applied across the Energy Community countries.
On June 26-27, European Political leaders are meeting in Belgium to agree on a concrete Action Plan to tackle Energy Security, an issue of increased concern since the crisis in Ukraine emerged last March.
In a report released this week [1] at a high level meeting of the Energy Community [2], CAN Europe and other NGOs [3] called for more transparency, a level playing field for energy investments and decent environmental standards in Southeast Europe. The report represents the agreed position of the NGOs
CAN Europe, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth Europe, E3G and WWF jointly published a briefing on the Energy Efficiency Directive Progress Review.
While the G7 leaders met in Brussels last week, another quietly significant deadline came to pass. It was a significant moment for both European energy security discussions and the process of tackling the global threat posed by climate change.
Over 70 MEPs from 25 EU countries across almost all political groups have indicated their readiness to take a leadership role in the climate debate in the European Parliament.
With less than two weeks to go until EU citizens elect a new European Parliament, 277 MEP candidates have declared their support for urgent action on climate and energy through signing CAN Europe’s Climate Pledge. Candidates from all of the big five European political groups have pledged their support for
The escalating crisis in Ukraine has propelled European energy security to the top of agenda. EU leaders have called a comprehensive plan for reducing energy dependency. CAN Europe calls for Europe’s plan to improve energy security to be backed by three concrete actions:
The Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) sets a 1.5% annual energy savings target for each Member State, which will be measured among final consumers until 2020. Member States can put this requirement on their national energy suppliers and/or the distributors by creating an energy efficiency obligation scheme. However, they can also
EU extends life of Europe’s biggest polluter while IPCC calls for coal phase out The European Commission (EC)’s February decision to allow Polish state owned energy company PGE to continue operating two outdated production units at Belchatow, Europe’s largest coal power plant and biggest CO2 emitter, is being challenged by
The take away point at today’s IPCC press conference is this: it doesn’t cost the world to save the planet. The Summary for Policy Makers (SPM) for the IPCC’s fifth assessment report (AR5) for Working Group (WG) III is concerned with mitigation, or how we best address the climate crisis.The
Download CAN Europe response to the Commission consultation on the retail markets Communication
Climate heroes and villains revealed Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe today launched a new set of 28 scorecards that rank national political parties and MEPs on their climate and energy performance in the European Parliamentary term 2009-14. It cuts through political rhetoric and enables European citizens to see the climate
How have political parties and MEPs performed on climate and energy? CAN Europe has developed a simple overview of how MEPs, from the current parliamentary term 2009-2014, have voted on ten issues related to climate change and energy. This analysis has been compiled into scorecards that rate national political parties and
Solutions exist but world leaders must act now to avert the worst effects EU leaders have been handed a warning by the world’s leading climate scientists that our society is vastly underprepared to deal with the risks posed by unavoidable climate change impacts.
EU must get its climate priorities in order before UN climate leaders summit in September CAN Europe [1] is shocked that EU Heads of State failed today to recognise the urgency of the climate crisis, just ahead of the release of a new IPCC scientific report warning that climate impacts
This briefing aims to provide clarity to the ongoing debate on Europe’s industrial competitiveness and the effect of climate polices. There is very little factual evidence substantiating that the risk of carbon leakage is real.
This briefing aims to provide initial views on the approach regarding energy savings, proposed by the European Commission (EC) in its 2030 framework communication and accompanying documents. More specifically, it elaborates why it is important to demonstrate real commitment for the continuation of EU energy savings policies and ensure that
This document analyses the European Commission’s Communication Energy Prices and Costs in Europe, and it identifies the main conclusions.
This briefing aims to provide guidance on the European Commission’s 2030 framework communication (White Paper) and accompanying documents. More specifically, it identifies the benefits of moving to an energy system with larger shares of renewable energies, as outlined in the Impact assessment of the 2030 white paper. It also provides
EU: 40% is not enough to keep temperature rise below 2°C Briefing on 40 and 2C.pdf
As part of the consultation process, CAN Europe had already participated in the first round of consultation that took part in October 2012. CAN Europe’s response can be found on our website. The responses to this consultation are based on two public CAN Europe position papers on support schemes, with
CAN Europe made a submissions to the European Commission’s Consultation on an Energy Community for the Future.
As part of a wider European modernization effort of competition rules, the European Commission is reviewing their (binding) guidelines on state-aid for environmental protection. The new guidelines will be published and enter into operation by mid 2014, after the last round of public consultation (opened on December 18th for 8
European NGOs WWF and CAN Europe today cautiously welcomed the European Parliament Environment Committee’s support for the proposal to temporarily curb the oversupply of emission allowances in the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS), a process known as “backloading”. However both regret that the Parliament included measures to weaken this support
On January 22nd the European Commission (EC) released their White Paper on the 2030 climate and energy framework, in which they discuss amongst many other things, energy markets.
The following letter was sent to President Barroso by the Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) on the 2030 framework for climate and energy.
The freezing mist in warsaw mirrored the dampened results of COP 19. As usual, the few outcomes that did happen came during final after-hours wrangling. Here’s a brief look at what was – and was not – achieved at the COP.
CAN Europe calls upon the European Union (EU) to recognise that its commitment to making a fair contribution to the effort to avoid dangerous climate change means that it should reduce its domestic greenhouse gas emissions by at least 95% by 2050 below 1990 levels. Only the upper end of
On November 26-27, the European Commission for Development Cooperation (DEVCO) held its annual European Development Days, an international forum aimed to address international affairs and development. A panel discussion on climate change and poverty eradication set the scene for what lies ahead in tackling climate change as a means to
CAN Europe and WWF welcomed today’s final approval by EU ministers for the “backloading” measure that will temporarily withdraw 900 million pollution permits from the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS). After almost a year and a half of wrangling, the temporary “quick fix” for the glut of permits on the
Today in Strasbourg, the European Parliament confirmed the position it adopted on 3rd July to amend the EU ETS (Emissions Trading System) Directive to allow the backloading proposal to move forward. Changing the ETS Directive enables delaying auctions of 900 million pollution permits in order to temporarily correct the massive
CAN Europe has just launched an exciting new publication, This is Climate Change in Europe. It brings together dozens of sources ranging from the IPCC, national adaptation plans, UN studies, official NATO documents and many more to provide, for the first time, a summary of current and pending climate impacts
With a minimal agreement on the pathway to defining an ambitious binding climate agreement in Paris in 2015, the climate conference in Warsaw pushed most of the work that needs to be done way ahead. While the EU fought for a robust timetable for putting emission reduction commitments for the
Last night as ministers and their delegations gathered in the COP plenary, more than a hundred remaining activists at the COP – after yesterday’sprotest walkout by many of their NGO partners and friends – took to the stands of the national stadium and started chanting.
This new report highlights the climate impacts hitting Europe from a variety of perspectives, including ecological and food security.
CAN Europe, the Coalition for Energy Savings and the European Renewable Energy Council wrote the following letter to the Secretary General on the Impact assessment for the 2030 climate and energy framework.
The new edition of the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) was released by Germanwatch and CAN Europe in Warsaw at the UN climate talks today. The results show emissions worldwide have climbed to a new peak and no single country is yet on track to prevent dangerous climate change.
The world’s governments agreed at the Durban climate meeting in 2011 two things: first that they would increase their short-term climate ambition; and, second that in 2015 they would agree a new global climate agreement in Paris. The Warsaw meeting is a step along the way to both of these
CAN Europe calls upon the European Union (EU) to recognise that its commitment to making a fair contribution to the effort to avoid dangerous climate change means that it should reduce its domestic greenhouse gas emissions by at least 95% by 2050 below 1990 levels. Only the upper end of
CAN Europe, EREC and the Coalition for Energy Savings jointly prepared this half-day event to discuss several questions arising in this context:
Environment Ministers’ call for climate pledges in 2014 rings hollow without increased EU ambition Today EU Environment Ministers set the stage for the EU to play a steering role in pushing an international climate deal forward. History has shown that arriving at the COP [1] with clear, coherent positions is
Europe lacks a vision for its future power grid. The view of Environmental NGOs on grid development in Europe
Today the IPCC released the full text of Working Group I (Science) of its 5th Assessment report. After negotiations in Stockholm last week went into the wee hours each night, delegates were able to come to agreement on the final text for the Summary for Policy Makers, or SPM, for
Business-as-usual to bring more floods and heatwaves; Safe path requires immediate emission reductions Today’s report from the IPCC [1] sets out some stark choices. Scientists are confident that business as usual will bring more deadly heat waves and floods to Europe and seas will rise and acidify further, in turn causing
Recommendations for proper reform and design of support schemes for renewable energy technologies in Europe
FUND WHAT COUNTS – Help people live a good life in a changing climate. Let’s make sure governments deliver their climate finance promises Climate Action Network Europe has launched a new awareness raising video that highlights why climate finance is essential to all our futures. Produced with CIDSE, RAC France,
Climate Action Network Europe, representing over 120 environmental and development NGOs, welcomes ENTSO-E efforts to develop a long-term vision in line with the European initiatives on an energy and climate policy framework. Bridging the Ten-Year Network Development Plan (TYNDP) and the future planning of the European power grid with the
Climate finance is not aid, as sometimes misunderstood. It’s restitution, for the injustice of climate change – caused by the North, but with impacts in the South, not just environmentally but in terms of development and economic growth.
A new discussion paper prepared by Climate Analytics for CAN Europe that provides an analysis of the adequacy and feasibility of the 1.5°C long-term global limit.
The Coalition’s Guidebook for Strong Implementation is here to help. The Coalition for Energy Savings has broken down the Energy Efficiency Directive into main themes and legal requirements, as well as developed a list of good practices for a strong, ambitious and complete implementation of the legislation. The Coalition hopes
According to recent estimates by the Coalition for Energy Savings the EU could potentially miss its EU Energy Savings Target by 62Mtoe. Governments can avoid this and grasp the opportunities that energy savings offer, if they follow the advice laid out in the new guidebook for strong energy savings implementation.
EU Commission Consultation: 2030 green paper on Climate and Energy framework. June 2013 130626 CAN Europe Response to Green paper-Final.pdf
Post-2015 Development Framework in the Environment Council: Will ministers fill the climate gap? On June 18th the Environment Council will discuss the EU position towards the follow up to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), currently referred to as the post-2015 development framework. This discussion aims to take further steps towards
CAN Europe made a submission on the European Commission’s Green Paper Consultation on a 2030 Climate and Energy Framework.
This week the UNFCCC gathers again for the beginning of the annual two week session in Bonn to continue work on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP), which is to deliver a new global climate protocol by 2015 and address the inadeqacy of pre-2020 commitments. Delegates will also discuss
The EU Energy Efficiency Directive outlines a framework of measures in order for the EU to reach its 20% energy savings target by 2020 and pave the way for more energy efficiency improvements beyond that date. Now that the Directive has entered into force, Member States must transpose it into
CAN Europe, the Coalition for Energy Savings and the European Renewable Energy Council wrote the following letter to Ministers ahead of the European Council 22nd May 2013 on Energy and Competitiveness.
CAN Europe, the Coalition for Energy Savings and the European Renewable Energy Council wrote the following letter to Ministers on Europe’s needs for an ambitious Climate and Energy Policy.
CAN Europe and WWF staged a live carbon auction in front of the European Parliament with outlandish bidders and a giant black balloon representing one tonne of CO2 emissions. An auctioneer started the bidding at 30€/tonne; but did industry bid for the climate or for cheap pollution?
Why an energy savings target should be part of the 2030 climate and energy policy framework from the start. On 27 March the European Commission issued a green paper on a new post 2020 climate and energy policy framework that officially opens the discussions to gain the views of
On Wednesday February 27th, the European Commission departments DG Development Cooperation (DEVCO) and DG Environment (ENVI) released a joint Communication together on a post-2015 global framework for sustainable development. The Communication comes after a number of EU-wide consultations on how this framework – a follow-up to the Rio+20 summit and
EU Commission: Communication on energy technologies and innovation. March 2013 130301 CAN Europe response- Consultation on innovation.pdf
CAN Europe made a submission on the European Commission’s Consultation on options to strengthen the EU ETS.
CAN Europe and Friends of the Earth Europe commissioned a report that looks at the effect of energy efficiency on bringing down energy prices by 2020 and beyond.
[Brussels, February 27] – A new report out today shows that the European Union could benefit from €200 billion net savings per year providing it gets on track to meeting its stated 20% by 2020 energy savings target [1]. The report written by Ecofys and commissioned by Friends of
The European Parliament’s Environment Committee yesterday voted today for a one-year ‘stop the clock’ derogation from the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) for flights to and from Europe.
The emissions-trading scheme needs reform, but first it needs an immediate patch!
Today Germanwatch, a CAN Europe member, published results of a public opinion poll which found that 73% of Germans support an increase of the EU’s 2020 emission reductions target to 30%, which is one of the structural options proposed by the Commission to review the flagging EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme
We welcome the European Commission’s determination to develop a clear and ambitious post 2020 climate and energy package. Only through reaching the upper end of the 80 to 95% emission reduction target by 2050 will the EU have assumed its responsibility to avoid dangerous climate change.
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