Rhein on Energy and Climate

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Outside the oceans tropical forests constitute the biggest carbon reservoir on earth. 289 billion tons carbon are sequestered in all forests on earth, and 0.5 billion tons of carbon are lost every year through net deforestation. It is of crucial importance for the global climate to maintain the present stock of forests for the indefinite… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

Global energy demand – and C02 emissions – is expected to double by the middle of the century as a result of rising population and per-capita consumption. Such a development is unsustainable: • Climate change will prevent humanity from continuing along the energy pathway of the past. Business as usual will put the very existence… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

At the insistence of the Spanish presidency, the EU high Level meeting with the four Mercosur countries (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay) has decided to reopen negotiations on a free trade agreement, which had been suspended in 2004 after five years of unsuccessful negotiations. Negotiations are to be resumed before the end of June. From… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

The signing of an agreement for the construction and operation of a 4.8 GW (!) nuclear power plant by the Russian President and the Turkish Prime Minister, May 11th 2010, was anything but a trivial event. It underlines the determination and capacity of the Russian nuclear industry to win contracts across the world wherever opportunities… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

Since May 12, 2010 a new draft for an American Power Act is on the table. Senators Kerry and Liebermann have submitted a 1000 page (!) compromise proposal after a previous trilateral effort could not make the way to the Senator Floor because of party controversy concerning the priority to be attributed to immigration over… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

Thinking beyond Cancun

There is agreement today that the next climate Conference scheduled for December in Cancun will not achieve a comprehensive agreement for global emission cuts and adaptation measures. The time for preparation is far too short; the US Congress is unlikely to have passed a convincing energy and climate act before mid-term elections November 4th; and… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

The EU Commission wants the EU to reduce C02 emissions beyond the 20 percent over 1990 defined so far as the EU target for 2020, but without reciprocity from other industrialised countries, which it had asked for until now. Four main reasons would militate in favour of a more ambitious approach: • Higher oil and… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein