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EU forms alliance to tackle climate change in developing countries

 EU  has launched the new phase of the Global Climate Change Alliance partnership between the EU and the most vulnerable developing countries to fight climate change.The EU Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica, has launched a new phase of the Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA), called Global Climate Change Alliance plus (GCCA+), which will run until 2020. The GCCA+ is set to become one of Europe’s key tools to assist the world’s most vulnerable developing countries in addressing global climate change.Around €350 million of EU funds will be made available until 2020 for the GCCA+, in addition to the private and national public investments that this financial support is expected to leverage.Commissioner Neven Mimica said: "It is a top priority for the EU to assist the most vulnerable countries in their efforts to adapt to climate change and at the same time to transit to green and sustainable economies. There are encouraging success stories which we will replicate and take further over the next years."Climate Action and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete said: "This is a great initiative which shows that EU is scaling up climate finance to help the most vulnerable countries take action against climate change. ...

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MEPs approve new national caps on pollutants

EU Commission plans for more ambitious national caps on emissions of six key pollutants, including NOx, particulates and sulphur dioxide, were endorsed by Parliament. Air pollution causes about 400,000 premature deaths in the EU yearly, and the plans could save up to €40bn in air pollution costs by 2030.“Air pollution imposes enormous human and economic costs. It also damages the natural environment, through eutrophication and acid deposition, and it doesn’t stop at EU member states’ borders”, said lead MEP Julie Girling (ECR, UK). Her report was approved by a show of hands.“This legislation will help at all levels of governance in the member states, including the regional and sub-regional authorities who have engaged so vigorously in the process. There is a real bottom-up demand for action”, she added.“My report also pushes the Commission to ensure that the Real Drive Emissions (RDE) procedure is agreed on as soon as possible. We all agree that NOx must be dealt with urgently. The public are demanding action in this area following the recent revelations on the car industry”, she concluded.More ambitious capsMEPs approved the proposed caps for sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOC), methane (CH4) ammonia (NH3), and ...

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University in Finland secures its first major Horizon 2020 grant

 The EU research and innovation framework programme is backing the €25m ‘Fuel flexible, near-zero emissions, adaptive performance marine engine’, or HERCULES-2, project which aims to realise a fuel-flexible large marine engine which can optimally adapt to its operating environment.The University of Vaasa in western Finland is one of the participants in the venture, which is being co-ordinated by the National Technical University of Athens and includes contributors from across the continent. The European Commission is contributing €16.8m to the project, of which the University of Vaasa is receiving €1.5m.Seppo Niemi, professor of energy technology at Vaasa, says HERCULES-2 will be the first project involving experimental research conducted in the university’s new energy laboratory, which is currently being built in Palosaari and recently received significant funding from Tekes.Niemi said an aim of the project was “improving fuel flexibility for seamless switching between different fuel types, developing adaptive control methodologies and achieving near zero-emissions”. He added that the venture was a great opportunity for the university and he hoped it would advance doctoral dissertations.The innovation action runs until 2018. The Hercules-2 project is aimed at fostering environmentally sustainable and more efficient shipping. It is in line with general European Union policy and ...

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NGO recommendations for Fuel Quality Directive

 The recently adopted implementing rules for the Fuel Quality Directive (FQD) include the possibility for fuel suppliers to use upstream emissions reductions (UERs) to reach the 6% decarbonisation target.  Transport & Environment (T&E) has issued a briefing including recommendations for European Commission guidelines on UERs under the FQD. It outlines how the rules are vague and, without robust guidance by the European Commission and restrictions by member states, there is a risk of double counted and non-additional offset credits being used for compliance, seriously undermining the FQD’s effectiveness.On the basis of an analysis conducted by Carbon Market Watch , T&E would recommend that the European Commission and member states implement the upstream emission reductions in the following way:1. Ensure additionality by requesting supplementary additionality assessments to prove that reductions are additional to a business-as-usual scenario. The additionality analysis should take into account national policies (the project is not required under local laws or regulations), financial revenues (the project is not financially attractive without credit support) and initiatives such as the Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership.2. Avoid double counting between member states, between the EU and third countries, and between the FQD and the EU emissions trading system (EU ETS). This could ...

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T&E on EU strategy for LNG and gas storage

 In July 2015 the European Commission opened a public consultation on an EU strategy for liquefied natural gas and gas storage. In its response T&E states that natural gas cannot deliver the decarbonisation that the sector needs to achieve the EU climate goals up to 2050. Investing in this technology would divert necessary resources from truly low-carbon alternatives in the transport sector and would create lock-in effects. Public resources for energy transition in transport should go where it offers the greatest public benefits, improved efficiency, and sustainable electrification.T&E believes that before the massive implementation of LNG in Europe, further environmental, climate and innovation considerations must be analysed in detail.The reduction of GHG emissions is not evident and needs to be tackled. Its production, distribution and use as fuel for transport generates CO2 emissions and even more when considering methane slip/leakage, phenomena which occur with great frequency. Methane slip is often considered in the available literature as a risk during the LNG operational phase as a fuel for marine vessels or lorries, but leakage in the early distribution phase is frequently overlooked. However, the GWP (global warming potential) of LNG (=methane) is very high at all stages, which means it is ...

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Fuel sampling for ships calling in EU

 According to the Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2015/253, the European Union has mandated rules concerning the methods and frequency of surveys conducted by the EU Member States for verification of the sulphur content of marine fuels being used onboard ships calling at EU ports.Ship log books and bunker delivery notes on board are to be inspected on at least 10% of the total number of individual ships calling at ports in relevant Member State per year. Further, as from 1 January 2016, the sulphur content of fuel being used on board is also to be checked by analysing a fuel spot sample drawn from the ship's fuel service system or by analysing the relevant sealed bunker samples onboard or both of at least the following percentage of the above inspected ships:(1) 40 % in the Member States fully bordering SOx Emission Control Areas (SECAs)*;(2) 30 % in the Member States partly bordering SECAs;(3) 20 % in the Member States not bordering SECAs (30% as from 1 January 2020).Member States are to take the on-board spot sample of the fuel through single or multiple spot sample at the location where a valve is fitted for the purpose of drawing a sample ...

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