Luis Planas Puchades, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, transferred to the ministries of the Autonomous Communities the priority issues of Spain in the next Council of Ministers of Agriculture of the European Union (February 21): productions and consumption free of deforestation, reciprocity in trade agreements with third parties and measures to curb and mitigate […]
Read More
Renewable energies continue to be an upward trend
In 2020, solid fossil fuels (coal) continued the downward trend of previous years and clocked another 18.3% fall, decreasing for the fifth consecutive year. Compared with 2015, it has dropped by 40%. Their share in the supply mix is now barely above 10%, while in 1990, it was 25.7%. Although oil (34.5%) and natural gas […]
Read More
State aid for climate, environmental protection and energy 2022
The new Guidelines provide the framework for public authorities to support the European Green Deal objectives efficiently and with minimum distortions of competition. The new Guidelines propose: Broaden the categories of investments and technologies that Member States can support;Increase flexibility and streamline the existing rules;Introduce safeguards; Ensure coherence with the relevant EU legislation and policies. How […]
Read More
The UAL is coordinating an energy project in rural areas
The project, with a duration of 4 years, aims to develop analysis and decision-making instruments that justify and favour the implementation of distributed energy microgrids for the self-supply of isolated productive enclaves in Spain, Chile and Mexico. The University of Almeria can help to alleviate the depopulation of rural areas and improve the quality of […]
Read More
Clear opportunities to decouple Europe’s waste generation from economic growth
In most European countries and in the EU as a whole, waste generation is growing but at a slower pace than the economy. However, there are no signs that the overall objective of reducing the total generation of waste is close to being achieved, according to a European Environment Agency report published today. The report’s […]
Read More
CO2 the culprit in southern hemisphere temperature drop millions of years ago
Research into ancient climates suggests that a drop in atmospheric CO2 caused cooling temperatures in south-east Australia 41 to 33 million years ago. Our planet is warming and its atmosphere is changing, but what impact will these changes have on its different ecosystems? To find answers, some scientists have been investigating climates from millions of […]
Read More
European Green Deal: Commission proposes to strengthen the protection of the environment through criminal law
The Commission has adopted a proposal for a new EU Directive to crack down on environmental crime, fulfilling a key commitment of the European Green Deal. The proposal intends to make protection of the environment more effective by obliging Member States to take criminal law measures. It defines new environmental crimes, sets a minimum level […]
Read More
Greenhouses join plants in the energy conversion business
Until recently, there were opaque photovoltaic panels, and there was transparent glass. Innovative nanomaterials bring photovoltaics and transparency together in greenhouse panels that convert the sun’s light into electricity, while augmenting plant photosynthesis. Meeting the world’s growing food and energy demands while mitigating climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Agriculture […]
Read More
Environmental taxes in the EU
In 2020, environmental tax revenue in the EU amounted to €299.9 billion, corresponding to 2.2% of GDP. For the first COVID-19 crisis year of 2020, the majority of the countries reported significant decreases in energy taxes compared with 2019. The typical range of decrease was between 5% and 15%. EU environmental taxes accounted for 5.4% of the revenue […]
Read More