Europe is becoming increasingly isolated in its decision to target global airlines with its emissions trading system. With US, China and Russia now rounding on our debt-ridden state, it appears some concessions may need to be made. With Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao recently reassuring us that his nation would continue to be a long-term investor [...]
When David Cameron said he wanted to lead the “greenest government ever” we thought he was talking about wind and solar. Turns out he had the luminescent green of fuel rods in mind. Are fuel rods green? We don’t know. Maybe we’ve been watching too much dystopian Japanese anime . . . But there is [...]
A couple of weeks ago, we wondered aloud whether Germany might be setting a trend with its decision to wind up its nuclear industry. Well, Silvio may not have been listening but it seems that most of his compatriots were. Of course, Italy has been here before – the country banned nuclear after the Chernobyl [...]
Go America! Whoo! We don’t know how to represent a high-five in print but if we did, we’d insert the necessary linguistics symbols right about here . . . The US solar industry’s trade association is right to be pleased about these latest figures. But amid all the whooping, it should be remembered that the [...]
Where to start? Perhaps with a quick squint at the calendar. But nope, it’s not April the first, and this appears to be an accurate news story. Strewth. We knew that the land of Oz had its fair share of weird wildlife but we weren’t aware that flatulent camels were one of them. But hang [...]
Credit where it’s due – this isn’t a bad idea. Certainly, any Europeans pooh-poohing the notion of a carbon regulator would do well to reflect upon the shenanigans in their own emissions market over the last couple of years. At times, reading the carbon market news was not dissimilar to thumbing through a rather diverting [...]
Never underestimate the Germans? Well, it seems the market did precisely that judging by the sudden uplift in renewable stocks in the days immediately following this announcement. Even us (whose childhood effectively ended the day the Germans overhauled a two-nil deficit to dump England out of the 1970 World Cup) assumed that Angela Merkel’s nuclear [...]
This is a worrying statistic. Increased shale gas extraction was once hailed as a sure-fire way of reducing the US’s greenhouse gas emissions. But recent research suggests that this may not actually be the case. Heck, shale gas may even produce more methane than natural gas, according to some reports. Not being a geologist, the [...]
We often find it difficult to take Boris Johnson seriously. It’s not just the hair, the diction, the carefully cultivated air of old Etonian eccentricity . . . It’s more the man’s record on climate change. He’s rather played it down since donning his mayoral robes, but batty Boris used to be a bit sniffy [...]
So, no fuel surcharge on that aeroplane, then. If this catches on, Michael O’Leary is going to have to dream up some brand new money-making schemes. Perhaps – in the spirit of poetic justice – he’ll pull down all the window blinds on his planes and charge passengers for lifting them up and letting in [...]