November 27, 2014
On Friday (21 November) Mario Draghi, the ECB President, has provoked fireworks at EU stock exchanges after promising he would do all in his power to push inflation in the Euro – zone up to 2%, the ceiling considered as the “target” for EU and US central banks. Expectations of rising prices may give a… » read more
Posted by Eberhard Rhein
November 24, 2014
For many years Ukraine has wasted huge amounts of energy through exorbitant subsidies on gas consumption, coupled with in-transparent multiple gas prices and large-scale corruption. Due to these factors, Ukraine has become one of the most wasteful energy consuming countries in the world. With household gas prices substantially lower than in any other European country… » read more
Posted by Eberhard Rhein
November 20, 2014
At the Pittsburgh G 20 meeting in September 2009 the heads of government had agreed to phase out subsidies on fossil fuels by 2020. At that time, the global volume of these climate-damaging consumption subsidies amounted to $ 300 annually, mostly in developing and emerging countries. Today, their volume has risen to $500 billion, and… » read more
Posted by Eberhard Rhein
At the margin of the APEC meeting in Beijing November 8-10th 2014 the US and Chinese Presidents have concluded an “historic” deal on how to address the common challenge of climate change. China will stabilise its green house emissions starting in 2030, while the USA will reduce its emissions by 26-28 per cent until 2025.… » read more
Posted by Eberhard Rhein
November 13, 2014
About two thirds of the EU member states are using toll systems for financing the construction and maintenance of highways. National governments monitor the rates being charged; and this functions quite satisfactorily. There is no reason for the EU to intervene, except insisting on strict non-discrimination between road users from different member states. This seems… » read more
Posted by Eberhard Rhein
November 6, 2014
From November 3 to 11 Beijing is hosting an APEC Summit, which 20 Heads of Government from the Pacific region will attend. To that end, the local authorities have undertaken utmost efforts to clean up their city, which is one the most polluted on earth. The streets are “empty” because schools, local government, public and… » read more
Posted by Eberhard Rhein
November 3, 2014
With oil prices having declined to less than $90 per barrel, a low level not seen for more than a decade, oil/gas subsidies are becoming a costly affair to countries with high production costs like Russia, Egypt, Yemen, Venezuela, Indonesia. At the same time, due to the lower prices consumers enjoying them will hardly feel… » read more
Posted by Eberhard Rhein
Thoughts on energy and climate, the Mediterranean and whatever comes to mind.
