Migrant Crisis Pushes Climate Change off EU Summit Agenda
Europe's migrant crisis has kicked climate change off the agenda of EU leaders' talks this week, officials said, prompting accusations from green campaigners that the European Union has given up its leadership on environmental issues. Summit talks on Thursday and Friday had been expected to discuss December's Paris Agreement on climate change, which the European Commission hailed as an historic breakthrough. But it has since said it will not review until the next decade its target for cutting greenhouse gases, even though some EU nations and environmental campaigners say the Paris deal cleared the way for more radical action sooner. Another official said European Council President Donald Tusk, who will chair the summit talks, "did not want to have a (climate) discussion".
UN's Climate Chief Figueres to Quit
The U.N.'s climate chief said on Friday she will step down in July, at the end of a six-year term, and praised governments for reaching a 195-nation deal in Paris in December to shift the world economy from fossil fuels to cleaner energies. Christiana Figueres, a 59-year-old Costa Rican, said she would not accept any extension of her term as head of the Bonn-based U.N. Climate Change Secretariat after what she called the historic Paris Agreement. "We now move into a phase of urgent implementationā¦
EU to Deliver Climate Pledge to UN
EU ministers agreed on Friday to send their formal promise on how much they will cut greenhouse gas emissions to the United Nations ahead of climate change talks starting in November. The European Union is the first bloc to agree its position before the talks in Paris aimed at seeking a new worldwide deal on global warming. It has called on other big polluters also to deliver early pledges to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. French Energy Minister Segolene Royal said Europe was leading by example. "A very important step was taken today," she told reporters after a meeting of EU climate and energy ministers in Brussels. She had said on Thursday agreement had to be reached by March 20 at the latest.
GDF Suez Consortium Wins French Offshore Wind Tender
The French government has awarded a 4 billion euro ($5.57 billion) tender to build and run two offshore windfarms to a consortium led by French gas and power group GDF Suez, French Energy Minister Segolene Royal said on Wednesday. The GDF consortium includes Portugal's EDP Renovaveis , France's Neoen Marine and nuclear group Areva . Areva will develop an 8 megawatt (MW) turbine - one of the largest in the world - for the tender. Frederic Lanoe, head of EDPR France and Belgium, told Reuters he expects work on the sites will start in 2019, with the first turbines turning around 2020 and full operation scheduled for 2021. Total cost of the two parks is about 4 billion euros, he said.
