Ecosystems & biodiversity

New FAO Report: “World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture”

12 March 2019By

This report presents the first global assessment of biodiversity for food and agriculture (BFA). It gives an original view compared with other global assessments, which put the spotlight on the state of genetic resources within specific sectors of food and agriculture. The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture (SoW-BFA) analyses the sustainable use, development and conservation of BFA worldwide.

BFA is considered to include all the animals, plants and micro-organisms which – in a way or another – contribute to the production systems and provide food and non-food agricultural products.

Download & read the Full Report

Picture credits: FAO

READ MORE
Cities

15 March 2019: global strike for climate

12 March 2019By

This Friday (March 15) young students from all over the world will go on strike to make their voices heard: they are worried about the future of our planet.
Tens of thousands of students from more than 80 countries and territories are going to demonstrate to urge governments to take climate action now. The global youth movement was kick-started in 2018 by the Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg, who had started a weekly strike order to pressure her government to take more drastic climate action. Her determination has inspired many other young people to do the same. However, Friday’s protest is the first global one, with students around the world expected to take part.
“This is of course nothing that I expected,” Greta told The Straits Times. “None of this would have happened without all the channels of the global environmental community. Millions of people have been fighting for the climate for decades, and without them nothing would have happened.”

Source: https://en.mercopress.com/2019/03/11/world-youth-from-80-countries-plan-to-strike-on-friday-calling-on-countries-to-address-climate-change

For updates on the strike, follow the hashtags #Fridaysforfuture #ClimateStrike on social media.

READ MORE
Economy & carbon markets

New World Bank Report “Fiscal Policies for Development and Climate Action”

12 March 2019By

This report provides practical insights for an effective design and implementation of fiscal policies for both development and climate action. The report maintains that well-designed environmental tax reforms are especially valuable in developing countries, where they can reduce emissions, increase domestic revenues and generate positive welfare effects. The report
offers policy recommendations for finance decision-makers to increase the mobilization of domestic resources and improve human well-being while enhancing development in spite of one if its main threats: climate change.
Read the Full Report

Picture credits: The World Bank Group – own rielaboration

READ MORE
Cities

Clean mobility: Putting an end to polluting trucks

1 March 2019By

The Commission has welcomed the first EU standards to reduce pollution from trucks. On 19 February, the European Parliament and the Council reached provisional agreement on a Regulation setting strict CO2 emission standards for trucks, for the first time in the EU. The deal follows the agreement reached in December on new CO2 emission standards for cars and light vans in the EU for the period after 2020. Under the agreement, emissions from new trucks will have to be 30% lower in 2030 compared to the 2019 emissions.

Read the News on the European Commission website

READ MORE
Emissions & mitigation

US Green New Deal – Prof. Barbier’s comments on the plan

1 March 2019By

In the last month, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. introduced a resolution in Congress calling for a “Green New Deal”. It calls for massive government spending over the next 10 years to shift the U.S. economy away from polluting industries, embrace green infrastructure and produce 100% of energy from renewables. In the process, the Green New Deal aims to create jobs and boost the economy. Prof. Edward Barbier was the author of the UNEP’s Global Green New Deal, a plan to lift the world economy out of the 2008-9 Great Recession, and was asked to comment on the broad outlines of the plan. For further details, see this post in Business Insider and Prof. Barbier’s article in Nature.

READ MORE
Emissions & mitigation

Towards a climate-neutral Europe: EU invests over €10bn in innovative clean technologies

28 February 2019By

On 26 February 2019, the European Commission has announced an investment programme worth over €10 billion for low-carbon technologies in several sectors to boost their global competitiveness. The EU innovative climate action has a range of benefits for the health and prosperity of Europeans with a tangible impact on people’s lives – from the creation of local green jobs and growth, to energy-efficient, more economic homes, less polluted air, greener public transport systems in cities, and secure supplies of energy and other resources.

Read the Press Release on the European Commission website

Photo credits: European Commission

READ MORE
Impacts, risks, adaptations

UN Climate talks – Katowice

13 February 2019By

The UNFCCC COP24 in Katowice, Poland, ended with the adoption of a rulebook to facilitate the implementation of the Paris Agreement across the world. The Paris rulebook will enable the Parties to the Paris Agreement to implement, track and enhance their contributions to fight climate change, in order to meet the Agreement’s long-term goals.

Read the Press Release on the European Commission website (Source)

READ MORE
Impacts, risks, adaptations

Clean Energy for All Europeans

13 February 2019By

Political agreement was reached by negotiators from the Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission on the conclusion of the Clean Energy for all Europeans package, consisting in new rules for making the EU’s electricity market work better. Measures have been provisionally agreed concluding the political negotiations on the Clean Energy for All Europeans package and representing a major step towards completing the Energy Union and combating climate change. Read the Press Release

READ MORE
Cities

Urban Adaptation Support Tool

30 January 2019By

The Urban Adaptation Support Tool (UAST) guides European adaptation decision-makers and practitioners in cities through the main steps of the adaptation process. The tool is based on the policy cycle, which highlights that climate change adaptation is an iterative process. UAST is divided into six steps and a number of sub-steps. UAST is regularly updated and for each sub-step it provides links to carefully selected resources that can be of the greatest use to cities.

UAST supports Covenant of Mayors signatory cities to develop and implement their action plan and complete the adaptation-related sections of the Covenant of Mayors reporting template.

Source: Climate Adapt website

Picture credits: Climate Adapt

READ MORE
Cities

Commission welcomes Francesco La Camera as newly elected Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)

30 January 2019By

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has elected its European candidate, Mr Francesco La Camera from Italy, as its new Director-General. Mr La Camera will succeed Mr Adnan Amin from Kenya, who has headed the organisation since it was officially inaugurated in 2011.

Read the News on the European Commission website

Photo Credits: IRENA

READ MORE