“The first time I travelled by bus in Belém it was very difficult. It was so stuffy – there were so many people. It was so hot, I almost got sick,” José Martin, 26, an exchange student from Guinea, told Climate Home at a bus stop near Mangueirão stadium, a busy area of the city.

Belém has 870 public buses that carry around 470,000 passengers a day – but they lack cooling in a city where temperatures can rise to 34 or 35 degrees Celsius on Amazonian summer afternoons from July to November. Most of the buses are old, and users complain about broken seats and frequent breakdowns.

Candidates in mayoral elections have made campaign promises to modernise the bus network – also a hot topic among city councillors. But it was the prospect of hosting a global climate conference in November 2025 that boosted the push for a new, air-conditioned fleet.

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The first five state-of-the-art electric buses for a pilot project were delivered in early July and should have been on the road already. The vehicles – with a range of 270 kilometres and capacity for 76 passengers – are the same model used to ferry delegates around during COP28 in Dubai.

However, their deployment was held up by a dispute between Belém City Hall and the local political opposition, which lasted for nearly two months until it was resolved at the end of August.

Old buses continue to circulate in Belém (Photo: Alice Martins Morais)

Soon after the buses arrived in the city, the Municipal Audit Court (TCMPA) published a precautionary measure, suspending the purchase contract for the initial batch of 10 buses issued by the Belém Executive Secretariat for Urban Mobility (Semob). The decision alleged flaws including overpricing and lack of planning.

In response, Semob’s head, Ana Valéria Borges, said the cost – which works out at R$3.6 million (around $636,500) per bus – took into account taxes and changes in import tariffs.

The left-wing Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL) – of the city’s current mayor, Edmilson Rodrigues – claimed the suspension was an attempt to benefit the opposition’s mayoral candidate, Igor Normando of the centrist Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB) party. He is backed by his cousin, Pará state governor Helder Barbalho, who is a key player in the mobilisation for COP30.

Peak COP? UN looks to shrink Baku and Belém climate summits

The PSOL’s accusation stems from the fact that the councillor who took the decision to suspend the bus contract, Ann Pontes, was a federal deputy from 2003-2011 for the MDB party and has close ties to the Barbalho family.

In addition, Normando’s mother – an aunt of Barbalho – is secretary-general of the TCMPA, while another relative is director of the School of Public Accounts. The court did not respond to a request for comment from Climate Home.

Mayor Rodrigues himself also accused the Barbalho family of being involved in the TCMPA’s decision on social media.

https://twitter.com/EdmilsonPSOL/status/1827832289524318622

This post by Mayor Rodrigues on X says: “Belém’s buses are at a standstill due to an unfounded decision by the TCM, which questions the purchase of the vehicles. And guess what? The Barbalho family is involved, including Hilda Centeno Normando, Igor’s mother and TCM secretary. Stay tuned!”

Climate Home asked the press offices of Normando and the Pará State Government to comment on this claim but had not received a response at the time of publication.

COP30 tensions feared

Political scientist Eliene Silva, a researcher at the Laboratory of Geopolitical Studies of the Legal Amazon (LEGAL), warned that political tensions between the national, state and municipal authorities over arrangements for COP30 are likely to intensify, at least in the run-up to this October’s municipal elections.

Silva noted that in 2022, when there was first talk of Belém hosting the conference, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the Workers’ Party (PT), the governor of Pará and the mayor of Belém were allies, despite their differing political affiliations.

Helder Barbalho (left to right), President Lula and Edmilson Rodrigues in June 2023, at the COP30 announcement ceremony in Belém (Photo: Ricardo Stuckert)

But in recent months, there have been signs of a split, such as in March when Mayor Rodrigues was not seen with the Pará state governor and Lula during a visit by French President Emmanuel Macron to an island in Belém.

Since Normando announced his decision to run for mayor, the division between Barbalho and Rodrigues has become more evident, although Lula’s party continues to support Rodrigues.

“This issue is closely linked to the fact that Edmilson’s administration has been very poorly evaluated by the population,” said Silva.

As well as dissatisfaction with public transport, there has been widespread criticism of chaotic management of the city’s garbage, exacerbated by the hiring of a new company for the job, leading to months of irregular waste collections before the contract started.

“I think Helder [Barbalho]’s bet is precisely to bring in a new figure [as mayor], even if they don’t have as much experience in executive positions, to guarantee the continuity of the plans he has for the capital, including COP30,” said Silva.

Far-right  mayoral candidate

So far, all the main three mayoral candidates in Belém have publicly supported the hosting of COP30, highlighting it as a crucial opportunity for the city’s development.

According to the latest opinion poll released in mid-August, Normando was ahead in the race, with 36.5% of voting intentions, closely followed with 34.7% support for Éder Mauro, a far-right candidate who is aligned with former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Rodrigues was trailing at around 16%.

Fossil fuel transition back in draft pact for UN Summit of the Future after outcry

Ex-policeman Mauro, now a Liberal Party parliamentarian, is regarded by environmental groups as antagonistic to the green agenda – although he has backed Belém’s hosting of COP30, primarily as a business opportunity. He has made statements defending police violence against members of the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST), for example, as well as calling Indigenous people “fakes”.

He is also the author of a bill that allows municipal bodies to issue environmental licences for small-scale mining operations, which environmentalists warn will weaken oversight.

Silva said a win for Mauro “could jeopardise the entire mobilisation of the federal and state governments to hold COP30″. “In this scenario, political tensions would be much more worrying than what we’re seeing now between Edmilson and Helder,” she added.

Green light for buses

Meanwhile, the suspension of the electric bus procurement was lifted last week after a series of hearings and meetings between the TCMPA and Belém City Hall.

As part of the deal, the company selling the buses, TEVX Motors Group, agreed to “reimburse” almost R$4 million – around 1% of the contract’s value – through products and services such as training, installation of chargers and disposal of the buses’ electric batteries when they can no longer be used.

Overall, by the time of COP30, 778 new buses with air-conditioning and wi-fi are expected on the streets of Belém thanks to three separate purchasing processes. The first by City Hall was expanded from an initial 10 electric buses to 30 after winning additional investment from the federal government last November.

This money will also fund another 183 more fuel-efficient buses with lower emissions that will expand the public bus transport service by adding new routes and reinforcing others.

Izabela Souza commutes 30 km every day by bus, which can take up to three hours due to traffic and bus changes (Photo: Alice Martins Morais)

The Pará state government has also ordered 265 new buses, which it will pay for with R$368.7 million from the federal government, channelled through the Ministry of Cities, run by Barbalho’s brother. Of these, 40 will be electric – used to improve connections across the Belém metropolitan region – and 50 will run on natural gas.

A further 300 new diesel buses have also been purchased as part of a joint agreement between Belém City Hall, the Pará State Government and the Belém Public Transport Companies Union. This fleet will replace older buses.

For local people, wherever the buses come from, they can’t arrive soon enough. Izabela Souza, 29, a specialist in neuro-pedagogy, commutes 30 kilometres by bus every day, which can take up to three hours due to traffic and bus changes. She said that, aside from the heat, there is a need for more buses to cut commuting times and enable passengers to sit down.

“It’s very precarious – and while the politicians are bickering, we’re the ones who have to wait here like this,” she said.

(Reporting by Alice Martins Morais in Belém; editing by Megan Rowling)

The post Belém’s electric bus controversy: a cautionary tale for COP30 appeared first on Climate Home News.

Electrifying the car industry took centre stage on “transport day” of the climate summit, in line with UK prime minister Boris Johnson’s slogan for the summit of “coal, cars, cash and trees”. There were also headline events on decarbonising shipping and aviation.

But an announcement on phasing out the internal combustion engine on Wednesday underwhelmed – leading many delegates to question why bikes, buses, trains and walking had not been given higher billing.

While a group of governments and companies signed up to eliminate new car emissions by 2040, the world’s top two automakers and major markets Germany, China and the US were not among them.

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In European cities, choosing a bike over a car for one journey a day cuts an average person’s transport emissions by 67%, according to research by the University of Oxford.

Outside the conference centre, campaigners gathered on their bikes, calling for increased funding in public transport as well as walking and cycling paths.

How much focus will there be today on #transport day at #COP26 on #bikes #cycling #mobility shift #publictransport #buses #trains or will it be all about #cars? We can’t just replace petrol/diesel cars with #ElectricVehicles pic.twitter.com/A29yfKKXN8

— Philippa Nuttall (@PhilippaNuttall) November 10, 2021

“I’m genuinely shocked by the absence of active travel in the COP26 transport discussions. Decarbonising road transport is a key part in tackling the climate crisis. We need fewer motor vehicles and those we do have, need to be cleaner/greener,” Will Norman, the mayor of London’s walking and cycling commissioner, said on Twitter.

“So unbelievably disappointing and elitist to present EV cars as the solution,” tweeted Sophie Eastwood.

Climate scientist Richard Betts tweeted in praise of the host city’s hire bike scheme and said better infrastructure was needed to make cycling an easier choice.

Public transport must double in cities over the next decade to meet the 1.5C target, according to analysis by C40 cities published on Wednesday.

Daniel Firth, transport and urban planning director at C40 Cities, told Climate Home News: “If we stopped the sale of fossil fuel vehicles tomorrow it would take 15-20 years to have 100% [zero emission vehicles] because of the time it takes to change the whole fleet. So it would take too long if that was our only strategy. Whereas we could start putting in bike lanes and bus lanes tomorrow.”

https://twitter.com/bikingbotanist/status/1458385857338122242

“It’s a missed opportunity,” Henk Swarttouw, president of the European Cyclists’ Federation, told Climate Home News. “Cycling is low-tech, low-cost and low-investment and provides quick climate wins,” he said.

“At the political level, leaders must confirm that the solution to reducing emissions needs to be a package that includes the electrification of vehicles, public transport and cycling,” Swarttouw said. “It’s not either or.”

The coronavirus pandemic led to a huge surge in cycling. In the UK, miles cycled per person increased by 62% during 2020, the highest levels since 2002. Each kilometre travelled by bike instead of car saves an average of 150 grams of CO2 emissions, according to the UN Environment Programme. “You could reach half a tonne over the year,” said Swarttouw.

Transport week at #COP26 so I think it’s time we started talking VERY LOUDLY about this wonderful crisis-beating machine and what it can give us all https://t.co/VCPDFms7mt

— Chris Boardman CBE (@Chris_Boardman) November 8, 2021

Increasing investment in green public transport, cycling and walking is part of the UK government’s 10-point plan for a “green industrial revolution, along with accelerating a shift to zero emissions vehicles. A spokesperson for the Cop26 presidency had not responded to Climate Home’s questions at time of publication.

The post As Cop26 car pledge underwhelms, delegates ask: where are the bikes? appeared first on Climate Home News.

At the end of 2020, Prime minister Boris Johnson declared the UK would recover green from the coronavirus pandemic, laying out a 10-point plan to reboot the economy and create green jobs. In December, he announced plans to cut emissions by 68% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels, in a bid to set the UK on course to achieving its 2050 net zero goal.

But climate campaigners say recent policy announcements are at odds with Johnson’s proclaimed green vision.

“We have strong ambition and good rhetoric on building back better. But there is still a gap in funding and policy in order to get us on track for the [climate] targets and give investors a really clear signal as to which way the government is moving,” Roz Bulleid, deputy policy director at the Green Alliance, told Climate Home News. 

From slashing foreign aid to greenlighting a new coal mine, here are five policies that undermine the UK’s leadership credentials.

1. Airline support 

Johnson plans to cut air passenger duty on domestic flights to revive the airline industry after air travel collapse in 2020. Proposals, set out in a UK transport review on Wednesday, include halving the current levy of £13 per domestic flight. The announcement comes a week after rail fares increased by 2.6%. 

The decision has been widely criticised by environmental groups who say it undermines the government’s 2050 zero target.

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) advised in December that if the UK is to meet its 2050 net zero goal, it will have to reduce its overall aviation emissions. Aviation is likely to be the UK’s highest emitting sector by 2050, according to the CCC.

Hall of shame: 9 countries missing the chance of a green recovery

“There is no way to bring emissions within safe limits without constraining flights. The easiest place to start is with domestic flights that have transport alternatives,” Leo Murray, director of innovation at environmental group Possible, told Climate Home News. 

Murray described the government’s decision as “embarrassing”, given the UK’s role as president of the Cop26 climate summit this year. 

“It makes us look like we don’t know what we’re doing. The government is very committed to announcing ambitious targets but there is no evidence that it is prepared to implement any policy to follow through on those targets,” he said. 

2. New coal mine

In January, the UK government was accused of “rank hypocrisy” for greenlighting a project to build the country’s first deep coal mine in 30 years while seeking to lead on climate action. 

Cumbria county council suspended the project last month following mounting criticism. The mining company said it plans to seek legal action over the suspension.

Lord Deben, head of the CCC, wrote a letter to minister of housing and communities Robert Jenrick in which he warned the project “gives a negative impression of the UK’s climate priorities in the year of Cop26”.

Amid the rising controversy, Jenrick “called in” the decision on 11 March, meaning central government will consider overruling the council decision.

“It’s a really bad look for a government who claims to be a climate leader and who is hosting the most important climate summit ever to be telling other governments what to do and then supporting a coal mine in its own backyard,” Rebecca Willis, professor in practice at Lancaster University, previously told Climate Home News. 

“At best that’s confusing and at worst it’s hypocritical,” she said. 

3. Foreign aid cuts

Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced in November that the government planned to slash its overseas development assistance from 0.7% to 0.5% of its national income.

Leaked documents from the UK’s foreign and development office obtained by openDemocracy show cuts are planned across some of the world’s most climate vulnerable nations this year. Cuts of around 60% are planned in South Sudan and Somalia. Aid programmes in Syria will be cut by 67% and Nigeria by 58%. 

The lack of UK finance threatens climate progress in countries such as South Sudan which is in the grips of a humanitarian crisis. The world’s newest country is drafting plans to raise its climate ambition by rolling out renewable energy and mass tree planting, but relies heavily on international support to deliver.

South Sudan plans to raise climate ambition amid ‘dire’ humanitarian crisis

In an open letter in November, environmental groups warned the cuts would worsen the climate crisis and undermine a core aim of Cop26: increasing support to vulnerable countries. 

Tom Evans, from the think tank E3G, described the UK aid cuts as “a major strategic mistake” and warned it would erode the trust between the Cop26 host and developing countries.

4. Green homes U-turn

One of the government’s flagship schemes to decarbonise heating for 600,000 households and support 100,000 jobs was axed for falling short of its target by the end of March. 

The £2bn green homes grant, which allow people to apply for vouchers to cover the cost of installing energy efficient improvements to their homes, was promoted as a key pillar of Johnson’s plan to align the UK’s short-term actions with its carbon neutrality goal. 

Analysis by the London-based Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit think tank shows the government issued vouchers to just 49,000 households, 8% of its target, despite more than 69,000 applying to the scheme.

In a written answer to British lawmakers, business minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said the unspent £2bn would not be rolled over to the next financial year and would instead be replaced by a £320 million funding pot. 

China makes no shift away from coal in five-year plan as it ‘crawls’ to carbon neutrality

“This colossal failure to deliver the tens of thousands of jobs promised really demonstrates how, by scrapping the green homes grant funding, the government has got it wrong on so many levels,” said Kate Blagojevic, head of climate at Greenpeace UK. 

“It’s imperative for jobs, rebalancing the economy, creating warm homes and tackling the climate crisis that this scheme is rebooted and properly funded,” she said.

5. Fuel duty freeze

In the latest UK budget unveiled last week, a fuel duty on petrol and diesel was frozen for the 11th year in a row.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak was expected to increase the fuel tax in a signal of the government’ seriousness to lowering emissions. But at the last moment, Sunak changed his mind. 

“To keep the cost of living low, I’m not prepared to increase the cost of a tank of fuel, so the scheduled rise in fuel duty is cancelled,” Sunak said at the budget presentation. 

“Future fuel duty rates will be considered in the context of the UK’s commitment to reach net-zero emissions by 2050,” the budget said. 

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Campaigners argue the freeze further weakens the government’s green recovery plans.  “Fuel duty rise is disastrous. We aren’t doing the things we need to be doing to erode car dependency,” said Murray.

According to analysis by Carbon Brief, the freeze in fuel duty since 2010 has increased UK carbon emissions by as much as 5% over the past decade.  

“Fuel duty could be a fantastic way to pay for transport alternatives,” Murray said, adding that for many people driving is the only option due to a lack of affordable and accessible public transport.

This article was updated after publication with the information that the planning minister had called in the Cumbria coal mine decision.

The post Five ways the UK is failing to walk the talk on a green recovery ahead of Cop26 appeared first on Climate Home News.

On the face of it, this is a welcome addition to existing plans to clean up shipping. However, the timing and the public spin of the proposal left many wondering whether the IMRF is a Trojan Horse.

I hope that this is not the case because part of the industry seems to be genuine about the need for such a fund to accelerate the deployment of carbon-free fuels. Let me explain our worries.

In brief, the IMRF proposes to levy €0.6 ($0.7) on each tonne of CO2 that ships emit ($2 per tonne of fuel). Ostensibly, the goal is to generate about $5 billion in funds over the next 10 years. These resources would fund research and development (R&D) into carbon-free marine technologies that would help decarbonise the sector.

Comment: Today, shipping is taking responsibility for our role in the climate crisis

For pure R&D and pilot tests, this amount might arguably be adequate so long as the money is spent efficiently. Together with other funding streams, including the EU Innovation Fund, a possible future EU Maritime Climate Fund under the emissions trading system (ETS), private investments by the individual shipping companies and shipyards, the IMRF could be sufficient to develop and test new marine technologies.

In that respect, I welcome this proposal and the efforts of the parts of the industry that have genuine intentions in developing it.

And here is where the Trojan Horse enters the “battlefield”.

Firstly, certain voices within the industry seem to have taken the opportunity to spin this proposal as (a precursor of) a global market-based measure (MBM), a carbon pricing system, for shipping. MBMs intend to guide the industry towards environmentally sustainable technologies by making CO2 emissions increasingly expensive.

For example, EU sectors covered by its ETS, including power plants and airlines, pay around €25 ($28) per tonne of CO2 emitted. While in itself insufficient to nudge the maritime sector to carbon-free fuels, the EU carbon price is a whopping 40 times bigger than the IMRF carbon/fuel levy. In that context, it would be ridiculous to suggest that the IRMF is an MBM and that we should all lie back and expect miracles in the next 10 years.

Given such a mediocre starting point, expecting IMRF in the future to evolve into a proper carbon pricing mechanism would be akin to expecting a hen chick to evolve into a fully grown ostrich.

2019 second warmest year on record, ends hottest decade yet, says EU observatory

And that’s precisely where the second problem lies. Industry’s IMRF proposal comes in a particular political context.

A week before it was released, the new European Commission published a European Green Deal, a strategy paper laying out its plans for regulatory and policy actions to ensure that Europe becomes the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050.

As part of the Green Deal, the Commission committed to extend the EU ETS to cover international maritime transport and implement further measures to accelerate the uptake of zero-carbon fuels, such as hydrogen, by the sector.

EU shipping in the ETS would initially generate about €4 billion/year in revenues, while having a negligible impact on consumer prices, measured in less than a cent on a kilo of bananas shipped to Europe. Given that the shipping industry has long been resisting European measures on shipping, it is quite hard to shake off the feeling that the release of the IMRF was, in part, calculated by some to dissuade Europe from acting on maritime emissions.

Hear it from the horse’s mouth. Following the release of IMRF proposal, Simon Bennett, deputy secretary-general of the ICS, was quoted in Politico Europe as saying: “If you believe in a market-based mechanisms, the place to do that is at the IMO. […] This is a global problem and it’s only going to be solved at the global level.” [18 December 2019].

It is strikingly obvious that at least parts of the industry are keen to nip the EU ETS in the bud by giving the misguided promises that everything is under control at the IMO.

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This wouldn’t be the first time the industry is resorting to such a tactic. Every time Europeans lose their cool about the lack of IMO progress, industry has been quick in encouraging IMO to make some cosmetic progress and then shout from the rooftops that shipping’s global regulator is making ‘great’ progress on climate – if only to buy themselves more time.

It is good to be hopeful about global climate negotiations, but that does not mean being naive. IMO and other UN agencies, like Icao, are notorious in their appallingly poor track record in curbing the sector’s climate pollution. Relying solely on the IMO to solve shipping’s climate impacts is akin to relying on (mostly) coal development ministries and coal miners to eliminate coal-power plants.

Therefore, even though the industry’s IMRF proposal is a welcome news, it is not an emissions reduction measure and should not be treated as such. Most importantly, this should not stymie the EU in extending the ETS to cover the maritime sector as a matter of urgency.

The IMRF and EU ETS can actually function in parallel – the latter could even fund the former. There cannot be exclusivity in action against climate change.

The urgency of the crisis is daunting enough to justify efforts at all levels, by ports, national governments, regional and global actors. To suggest otherwise would only mean signing a death penalty to the planet.

Faig Abbasov is shipping programme manager at Transport & Environment, a Brussels-based NGO which campaigns for cleaner transport

The post Is the shipping industry’s R&D climate fund a Trojan Horse? appeared first on Climate Home News.

If Mumbai has been spared the ignominy of New Delhi – listed by the World Health Organisation in 2014 as the most polluted city in the world, along with 13 of the 20 worst polluted figuring in India – it is due to sea breezes that cool this megacity.

The coast road and sea link could put paid to that with some 200,000 cars estimated to use the route every day. Cars and taxis crossed the one million mark in Mumbai in the past year. The Brihanmumbai (Greater Mumbai) Municipal Corporation (BMC) will scrap tolls on the coast road, increasing the traffic flow.

“The coast road will increase air pollution as additional traffic is placed in an area where natural wind patterns carry pollutants into the city during some seasons,” said Sumaira Abdulali of the Awaaz Foundation, a Mumbai NGO. “Mumbai is already among the most polluted cities in the world and the health of its citizens demands that all efforts are made towards reducing air pollution, not creating additional sources in locations which will worsen the problem for the entire city.”

Asked about the increase in air pollution from the road, BMC chief engineer Mohan Machiwal told Climate Home: “We have conducted an environmental impact assessment: it will be beneficial to the environment. Since traffic will move smoothly, it will save fuel and reduce the carbon footprint.”

Ashok Datar, who heads the NGO Mumbai Environmental Social Network, said the detailed project report for the road was inconsistent in projecting future traffic volumes increasing by 5% per year. Mumbai’s central business district was shifting from the south to northern suburbs, which was why 50,000 fewer cars are using the existing sea link than estimated previously.

A recent study by the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai found air pollution caused 80,665 premature deaths in adults over 30 in Mumbai and Delhi in 2015, twice the number in 1995. Delhi recorded more such deaths due to vehicle exhausts, among other pollutants.

Work will soon begin on the 32-km route along the west coast of Mumbai, after many false starts. It was revived seven years ago as an extension of a 4.5-km sea link that was completed in 2009, both southwards towards the central business district and northwards to the western suburbs.

In his budget speech in February 2016, municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta said that the coast road was “one of the most prestigious projects to be undertaken by the BMC… It is proposed to resolve the traffic congestion in Mumbai in addition to providing several environmental friendly features to the city.”

Despite not receiving final environmental clearances from the federal Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, the BMC  is testing the soil along beaches as well as identifying consultants with international experience to complete the road up to Bandra, a suburb.

Environmentalists and public transport activists have made requests for a public hearing, which have been repeatedly turned down. They organised an independent people’s tribunal in October 2015, where two former municipal commissioners, scientists and experts unanimously called for the project to be scrapped.

Dr Rakesh Kumar, chief scientist of the Mumbai Center of the National Environment Engineering Research Institute, said that it would be more effective to transport commuters through multiple alternatives discussed in the tribunal report.

“Even if we spend a fraction of the money in the existing public transport system, we would have solved the problem to a greater extent,” he said. “The current neglect of public transport shows that the project is mainly to move cars and not people.

“Environmental impacts of the project have been very marginally addressed. The major issue is the impact on beaches and shores. More so, when we are looking at the climate change impacts which will comprise high/extreme events and sea level rise.”

The BMC’s own detailed project report [as it is officially known] for the road said: “Greater Mumbai’s environmental health is affected by increasing air pollution (caused by vehicular pollution and construction)…while its coastal location makes the city vulnerable to flooding and landslides, specially during the monsoon.”

According to a recent unpublished paper by R. Mani Murali from the National Institute of Oceanography, as much as 40% of Mumbai – a staggering 190 sq km – could be under water within a century.

“Going by previous studies by NIO researchers, we considered a 3 mm rise (annually) in sea levels along Mumbai’s coast. That, coupled with factors such as natural calamities and tidal changes, will result in an approximate increase of 3 metres,” Murali told the Hindustan Times newspaper.

Due to protests by environmentalists, the municipal corporation has abandoned the extension of the road from Bandra to Versova and replaced it with a sea link, 900 metres off the coast. The original alignment would have bisected some fishing villages, cutting off access to boats, and also destroy mangroves when 170 hectares of land were reclaimed.

The post Mumbai highway project threatens new air pollution crisis appeared first on Climate Home News.

Does Europe need more roads? (Pic: Flickr/Paolo Margari)

By Megan Darby

European countries have put forward more than €1 trillion worth of projects for funding under the “Juncker Plan” to stimulate the economy.

They are in competition for a projected €315 billion available under European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker’s flagship scheme, which aims to create more than a million jobs.

One fifth of this pipeline by value is in high carbon sectors including coal, oil and airports, analysis by London-based environmental consultancy E3G reveals.

These run counter to the European Union’s climate goals and pose a high risk of stranded assets, warns E3G’s associate director Jonathan Gaventa.

“There is no guarantee that the demand will be there to make these projects cost effective in the long run,” he says.

“In trying to make a stimulus over the short term, it makes sense to put it into the projects that are best value for the long term.”

Breakdown of projects put forward for EU strategic investment fund (Source: E3G, Europa)

There are €624 billion worth of options in low carbon sectors and €86 billion in nuclear, E3G found – more than enough to use up the budget.

Another €422 billion of initiatives are middling for the climate, such as broadband networks and social housing.

Under Juncker’s plan, the EU will provide €21 billion worth of guarantees and loans, to mobilise 15 times that amount from the private sector.

Expected to start running in September, the fund will be administered jointly by the Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB).

Coal

The EIB in 2013 announced an emissions performance standard for power stations that effectively ruled out funding to coal plants.

The dirtiest form of power generation, coal is increasingly seen as incompatible with climate change objectives in Europe.

That has not stopped member states including Poland, Croatia and Romania proposing coal plants for funding.

Poland put 31 coal projects on its wish list, including the €5 billion Gubin lignite mine and power plant.

Even the UK, which typically presents itself as a green leader in Europe, has put forward a £1 billion underground coal gasification project.

This had already qualified for UK infrastructure guarantees but struggled to raise initial finance, the EU list shows.

The project in question is to involve carbon capture and storage. This would mitigate the climate impact, but is not yet established technology at a commercial scale. Without that technology, coal gasification generates higher emissions than conventional coal burning.

Oil, gas and planes

Estonia put forward shale oil extraction projects totalling €5 billion and Greece proposed gas pipelines worth nearly €10 billion.

Three quarters of the high carbon options were in transport, with Portugal and Slovakia proposing airport upgrades and several countries proposing roadworks.

But EU data shows a flattening of passenger transport demand in the past decade, E3G noted, raising the risk this new capacity would be underused.

That was a problem between 2000 and 2013, the European Court of Auditors found recently, with more than €666 million of EU money wasted on 20 airports.

Energy security

A top priority for the European Commission is to reduce reliance on Russian gas imports, particularly for Eastern Europe.

E3G argues the countries most exposed to volatility from their eastern neighbour are missing an opportunity to improve their energy efficiency.

Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria have proposed more than twice as much investment in oil and gas (€11 billion) as in energy saving measures (€5.2 billion).

These include gas power generation projects as well as pipelines to diversify supplies.

Across the EU, just 5% of investment suggested was in energy efficiency, smart cities or demand management – advocated by E3G as a better value way of responding to Russia.

The post One fifth of proposed EU fund investment high carbon, high risk appeared first on Climate Home News.

A new cable car links favela Complexo do Alemão to the centre of Rio de Janeiro
(Pic: Claudia Murray)

By Claudia Murray in Lima

Latin America is known as the most unequal region in the world, where extreme displays of wealth and poverty are laid bare for all to see within the  urban landscape.

Having spent over a week at COP20 climate talks in Lima, meeting with senior government officials from across Latin America and with my own experience, I know that any discussion of climate change must also address such issues of inequality. We can ask: are these issues adequately represented within the UN climate change process?

Inequality is not just a social issue; it has considerable impact on climate change. When access to education and jobs are unequally distributed people tend to find other means of survival, usually in the “informal market” and this dependence on the “informal market” generates an increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

In large cities like Lima, with no adequate public transport and where the primary mode of transport is the car, the government tends to turn a blind eye on those who drive old vehicles that would not pass carbon emission checks in other neighbouring cities such as Buenos Aires or Sao Paulo.

Until high investment in public transport is delivered and access to jobs therefore guaranteed by greener modes of transport, the government will keep on turning a blind eye on this matter as the risk of completely cutting off job opportunities for this already vulnerable social group is too high to overlook.

Lack of provision of adequate housing is also affecting climate change. Informal housing developments in the region mushroomed during the 1960’s and 1970’s, when inefficient housing policies failed to target the unemployed, who at the time counted for more than 60% of the population.

Since the 1980s, different housing polices attempted to rectify the accrued social debt while dealing with a major rural-urban migration. Most countries in the region have now developed a subsidised system of housing, based on a mix of family savings, government subsidies and private lending.

However, such housing schemes tend to be located on the periphery of cities, with little or no access to public transport. This can burden families with housing debt on a dwelling that has very little value in the local housing market, worst still, a dwelling that is far removed from education and job opportunities needed to repay that debt.

Governments across Latin America tend to favour new housing schemes over upgrading programmes. New housing schemes boost the construction industry (an important contributor to the region’s GDP) and keep unemployment levels low in countries with large numbers of low skilled workers.

In addition, brand new housing schemes are highly visible, unlike the investment in sewage systems and other underground infrastructure, and are used as political pawns to win more votes. Most political speeches during the 2014 round of elections in countries such as Brazil, Colombia, Panama and Uruguay, included pledges to increase the number of new houses aimed at the most vulnerable sectors of the population.

The worrying scenario is the low standards of what is being delivered. Mexico, for example, has 5 million abandoned housing units, nearly 70% of them where abandoned because of poor location and lack of services.

They have been subject to vandalism and the construction sector in Mexico is now reporting that the refurbishment of these units will be too costly; is the alternative demolition and release of energy? What is the cost of appropriate disposal of materials? Can the world afford this continued lack of quality in housing policies?

Last week, UN climate chief Christiana Figueres stated that the region should see urbanisation challenges as opportunities to build greener transport and renewable energy systems. Current social housing policies in Latin America are missing this opportunity.

Local governments will do better to invest in innovative design solutions to upgrade current housing stock, rather than building new. But will governments have the political will to implement such policies against the power of local construction companies and private developers? More research is needed to prove the economic value of upgrading schemes.

Claudia Murray is a research fellow at the University of Reading

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Traffic in Nairbo is expected to double by 2020 (Pic: rogiro/Flickr)

By Sophie Yeo

African countries have moved closer to a cleaner, greener system of cars and public transport after ministers adopted a continent-wide sustainability strategy today.

Ministers and officials from over 42 countries across Africa signed on to a new framework for the transport sector, aiming to promote the use of low emissions vehicles, develop quality public transport and increase investment in clean technology.

This will take place alongside Africa’s 50-year development plan, Agenda 2063, which lays out the intention to dramatically improve transport links across the continent in coming decades.

UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, who attended the three-day Sustainable Transport in Africa conference, highlighted the importance of putting this expansion into a sustainable context.

“Your commitment to develop and maintain reliable, modern, sustainable and affordable infrastructure in both rural and urban areas is in line with the emerging African Agenda 2063 and the associated Common African Position on the post-2015 development agenda,” he said.

Among the UN’s proposed post-2015 sustainable development goals is the aim to provide everyone in the world with sustainable and accessible transport by 2030.

Air pollution

With 3% of the world’s motor vehicles, Africa has some way to go to make transport accessible to all.

According to the World Bank, transportation is responsible for around 23% of global CO2 emissions caused by burning fuel. Rapid urbanisation, including in Africa, means that CO2 emissions from transport are on the rise.

In the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, rapid urbanisation means the car fleet is predicted to double in the next six years, causing pollution which could endanger the health of thousands.

Nairobi’s air pollution levels can be up to seven times the maximum WHO guidelines. Near the central business district, where pollution from vehicles is highest, this doubles.

In sub-Saharan Africa, urban air pollution is estimated to cause roughly 49,000 deaths per year, much of which is a result of transport pollution.

Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta said that the continent’s development plan “requires that we do things differently to achieve our vision of an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa”.

Options to reduce emissions from transport include electric vehicles and a more energy efficient fleet – but these can be difficult to access for countries with some of the poorest inhabitants in the world.

Achim Steiner, executive director of UNEP, said that the new framework “will provide the platform for Africa’s decision-makers to share best practices, coordinate sustainable transport efforts and provide focus to development planning”.

This would, he said, “transition its transport sector into one that is more resource-efficient, environmentally sound and cost-effective for its ambitious and increasingly mobile population.”

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Airlines like Virgin are proud of their green credentials, but are also expanding rapidly (Pic: Virgin Airlines)

By Megan Darby

Sustainable transport policies will fail unless “taboos” around air and car travel are broken, researchers have warned.

Green technology alone cannot cut transport emissions enough to meet emissions targets, say the experts from Lund University and the University of Surrey.

Policymakers need to take on the high-flying elite who are responsible for most transport emissions, according to the study.

“The richest and politically powerful contribute the most to global carbon emissions,” study co-author Scott Cohen told RTCC.

“Ironically they are offered rewards for this behaviour with air miles, as well as earning prestige among peers who view international travel as a status symbol.

“Our research explores how these transport taboos are driving policies that are contradictory to carbon emission targets.”

Report: Rise in air travel likely to overpower carbon cuts

Transport accounts for nearly a third of greenhouse gas emissions in the EU and demand is rising.

Between 1990 and 2007, transport emissions grew by 36%, while emissions from all other sectors fell by 15%.

Globally, the International Energy Agency expects the number of passenger cars to double by 2035 and air travel to triple by 2050.

Even with improvements in the energy efficiency of vehicles and use of biofuels, that is set to substantially increase transport’s share of emissions.

In the EU, the European Commission aims to cut transport emissions 20% by 2030, from 2008 levels. However, it says “curbing mobility is not an option”.

This is at odds with other studies showing use of energy-intensive forms of transport must be curbed to achieve absolute emissions cuts, the report notes.

This means air travel, which is the least taxed and most subsidised form of transport. Low-cost airline Ryanair is estimated to have received subsidies worth €800 million in a single year.

Kevin Anderson: “The fox is having to protect the chickens”

Cohen blamed the influence of the transport lobby.

“Politicians continue to ignore evidence of what works in favour of optimistic headlines about technological innovation, driven by industry and lobbyists,” said Cohen.

“There is a lot of exaggeration surrounding ‘wonder’ technologies that promise to reduce carbon levels while allowing privileged sections of society to continue to travel without limits. These optimistic claims are largely undebated in political circles, as this would force politicians to face some harsh truths.”

Indeed, politicians tend to belong to the elite group of frequent flyers who are not willing to travel less.

And when the EU has attempted to act, it has been slowed down by international opposition.

Attempts to put a price on carbon emissions from long-haul flights have been put on hold after countries including the US, China and India kicked up a fuss.

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Pic: Curtis Perry/Flickr

By Sophie Yeo

A movement is underway in America to get gas pumps labelled with warnings about climate change.

The small, unfunded campaign, called Our Horizon, was launched in 2013 by Rob Shirkey, a former lawyer who decided that the way to get action on global was to let people know that they are personally responsible each time they fill up their car.

“It engages people in a different way from newspapers, television and books,” said Shirkey. “It drives the issue into the palm of your hand. It makes the issue more personal.”

Now, two cities in the US and Canada are considering making it happen.

Councils from Berkeley in California and West Vancouver in Canada are set to vote on whether local gas pumps should carry climate change warnings.

“It could very well be that this fall we have two precedents, and we’re hoping in the interim to leverage these examples of leadership,” said Shirkey.

Stickers feature phrases such as “Warning: Use of this fuel product contributes to climate change which may put up to 30% of species at a likely risk of extinction.”

Pic: Our Horizon

Pic: Our Horizon

Globally, transport is responsible for around 23% of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions. This is growing, despite vehicles becoming more efficient.

Shirkey says he hopes to partner with other organisation to take the movement worldwide, but is starting in Canada, where he hopes to make the fuel pump stickers an election issue in Ontario this October, when municipal officials will be voted in.

He is also expanding his one-man band by crowdsourcing enough funds to employ a student to drive the campaign further. Donations of $50 are rewarded with an autographed copy of a legal report explaining the background to the by-law.

By working at a level of cities and towns, he hopes that the campaign will be able to bypass the federal government’s reluctant to take action on climate change.

While Stephen Harper’s conservative government has withdrawn Canada from the Kyoto Protocol and is pushing to exploit its highly polluting tar sands, regional governments have taken a more progressive stance on climate change.

British Columbia, for instance, has adopted a carbon tax, while Ontario has phased out coal power.

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President Obama says heavy duty road vehicles will face tough new fuel efficiency standards from March 2016.

In a speech at the Maryland branch of the US Supermarket chain Safeway Obama said he had instructed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to start work on a new set of measures for trucks.

“We’re gonna double the distance our cars and trucks and go on a gallon of gas from 2025,” he said, adding “These are areas where ambition has worked out well for us – don’t make small plans make big plans.”

Trucks and lorries account for around 4% of registered vehicles in the USA, but are responsible for 25% of greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector.

A previous round of standards announced in 2011 meant manufacturers of medium and heavy duty trucks had to achieve a 20% efficiency saving rating, which the White House says will save $50 billion in fuel costs equal to 530 million barrels of oil.

.@rtcc_edking Manufacturers investing now to meet 2014-2018 standards and EPA and DOT we’ll work with them closely on the next round

— Dan Utech (@Utech44) February 18, 2014

Last week Obama unveiled a new $1 billion climate adaptation fund, the State Department released its proposals for a 2015 UN climate deal, and Secretary of State John Kerry gave a speech labelling global warming a weapon of mass destruction.

Obama used his speech to repeat a call for Congress to end subsidies to oil and gas companies and create an Energy Security Trust Fund to fund research and development for advanced vehicle technologies.

Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune welcomed the announcement, claiming it would slash US carbon pollution by 10%.

“The president’s decisive action to ensure more efficient cars and trucks is adding up to huge climate pollution reductions for our planet and massive savings for American drivers at the pump,” he said.

“We have the technology to nearly double the fuel economy of tractor trailers, and now we need to put it to work.”

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Alberta’s oil sands at dusk (Pic: Kris Krug)

By John McGarrity

Oil from Canada’s carbon-intensive tar sands – one of the world’s single biggest sources of greenhouse gas pollution – could be used in the petrol tanks of European motorists from 2020 after the European Commission proposed to scrap curbs on imports of highly emissions-intensive fuels.

The EC’s executive arm said in its 2030 climate and energy framework yesterday that it wouldn’t set new thresholds on the carbon intensity of fuels used in transport from the start of the next decade.

Environmental groups said the EC’s proposal to drop a law curbing the carbon intensity of transport fuels would enable oil and products from tar sands to be brought to Europe, particularly if new pipelines are approved.

“[The EC proposal] is good news for oil companies and Alberta, with its high-carbon tar sands, but bad news for Europe in our move towards a more sustainable transport system,” said Nusa Urbancic, a campaigner with Transport and Environment in a statement.

Report: EU’s 2030 climate & energy package explained

The EU’s existing Fuel Quality Directive  aims to reduce the carbon intensity of Europe’s transport fuel by 6% by 2020.

“But the measures governing how the law will actually be implemented have yet to be released by the Commission, allegedly because of extreme pressure from oil companies and the Canadian government,” Urbancic said.

The measure to scrap the fuel law may be discussed at a meeting of EU governments in March on the climate and energy package, although a final decision on the 2030 proposals might not come until early next year.

On Wednesday, EU climate chief Connie Hedegaard told journalists: “There are still discussions on how to proceed on the fuels.”

A recent report from the US green group the National Resources Defense Council said the export of crude oil and refined products derived from tar sands could raise the carbon intensity of Europe’s fuel stocks by up to 32.5 million metric tons annually from 2020.

Canada’s tar sands, branded as ‘carbon bomb’ by environmentalists, could supply up to 7% of the EU’s fuel stock from the beginning of the next decade, the NRDC said.

US President Barrack Obama hasn’t yet decided whether to approve the northern branch of the hugely controversial Keystone XL pipeline, which would enable tar sands crude to be refined and from the Gulf Coast to export markets in Europe.

Riddle of the sands

New export markets for tar sands oil would  help increase western Canadian tar sands production from 1.4 million barrels  per day in 2012 to 5.8 million bpd by 2030, the NRDC estimates.

Emissions from the process could triple to 107 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent a year by 2030 compared with 2011, according to the Canadian government’s own figures, driving up the country’s overall emissions at a time that developed countries will be expected to cut their carbon footprint in any future UN climate pact.

But green groups say that Canada has so far under-reported the carbon footprint of its oil sands industry, which has transformed Alberta’s economic fortunes and is a powerbase of Conservative Prime Minister Steven Harper.

The EC’s 2030 proposals yesterday also recommended that the EU drop the 10% target for renewables in transport that currently applies until 2020, a decision broadly welcomed by green groups.

They say the 10% requirement has mostly met with biofuels, which are blamed for competing with food crops and being even more emissions intensive than conventional fuels.

VIDEO: Quebec chief on region’s new cap-and-trade scheme

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4,300 residents took part in the month-long car free experiment (Source: ICLEI Korea)

By Sophie Yeo

The traffic on Hwaseomun Street seems designed to strike fear into the heart of every commuter in the South Korean city of Suwon. Bottleneck traffic slow journeys to a snail’s pace, while illegally parked cars line the side of the road.

But those who ventured that way in September were greeted with a rather different sight. Instead of the usual mayhem, this once-busy street was filled with bicycles, scooters, tricycles, segways, velo-taxis, cargo-bikes – and not a single car.

As part of the EcoMobility World Festival, the residents of the Haenggung-dong neighbourhood in Suwon decided to adopt a car-free lifestyle for thirty days. During this period, roads were cordoned off, and the only vehicles allowed were those which did not consume fossil fuels.

“The EcoMobility World Festival will help visualize this future with a showcase neighbourhood demonstrating what a car-free, ecomobile future will look like; a mise-en-scène in a real city, by real citizens, in real time,” said Konrad Otto-Zimmermann, the Creative Director of the Festival.

During the month, the 4,300 residents of the district gave up their vehicles in favour of clean vehicles. The project was a joint experiment by the Suwon government, ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability and UN-HABITAT, who wanted to push the boundaries of what was possible for local sustainability by creating a car-free urban haven.

Free rental stations were set up across the city, and over 500 vehicles were distributed to business owners and households throughout the neighbourhood.

To prepare the city for its car-free reincarnation, €9 million euro (13 billion KRW) of public investment was used to spruce up the infrastructure, so that the vision for the city was accessible to all residents irrespective of age, gender or physical capability. This included planting more trees, widening footpaths and upgrading the sewage system.

The city got an updated infrastructure and a fresh lick of paint before the Festival (Source: Go Kyeongah)

Suwon is the capital city of the province of Gyeonggi-do. It has pledged to reduce its carbon emissions 40% from 2005 levels by 2030. The city houses both the UNESCO site of the Hwaseong Fortress and the world Samsung Headquarters.

“Our city is attempting to improve the street facilities in a neighborhood that has always been lagging behind due to the development restrictions relating to the preservation of Hwaseong Fortress. Our aim is to create streets where modernity and tradition can coexist, “said Yeom, Tae-Young, Mayor of Suwon.

The experiment met with widespread approval from its residents, who found that the fresher air, low noise levels and safer travel beat the convenience of fossil-fuel travel.

“Like many residents, at first I could not imagine life without cars,” said Doo Chang Wuk, a retired government employee. But he added that, after the event, “There were plenty of residents who think they could get rid of their cars, but only doubt if their neighbours would be able to.”

“I went around the Festival area and realized that I want this. If this does not happen to my neighbourhood, I will move to Haenggung-dong!” exclaimed Kim Jeong Hyo, a resident of a surrounding neighbourhood.

The Festival was also an opportunity for businesses to showcase their vehicle inventions, who suddenly found they had a city of willing test drivers at their disposal. During the month, 39 manufacturers from eight countries, including the United States, Germany and Taiwan, provided human-powered and electric vehicles to make their maiden voyages.

The streets of Suwon would have be ample inspiration for anyone hoping to make a 21^st century sequel to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

The line-up of vehicles included the Yikebike, the smallest foldable bike; Trimobile, a tricycle that can carry three people at a time but only requires one to pedal; Nordic Cab’s multipurpose bike trailer made out of eco-friendly aluminum and hardened plastic; and many more.

Businesses exhibited their inventions, including the world’s smallest folding bike (Source: ICLEI Korea)

“The EcoMobility Festival will be exciting for all,” said Otto-Zimmermann.

“The Suwon citizens will demonstrate healthy and environmentally-friendly mobility; the EcoMobility industry can promote their vehicles and test innovative products; city decision makers and urban planners from all over the world will visit Suwon and gain an impression of ‘urban EcoMobility in action.’”

Now the cordons have been lifted and cars are back on the roads, but Suwon Mayor Yeom Tae-Young says that the city’s innovation in sustainable transport will continue.

He says: “Building on the Festival, Suwon will go one step further by introducing a tram system, establishing a transport system focused on public transportation, and promoting ecomobile lifestyles in Suwon. By doing so, children and the aged will be able to move around in a safer environment.

“The fact that the neighbourhood endured initial inconveniences and gladly took part in the Festival touched people‘s hearts and minds around the globe.”

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Some argue that land for biofuels takes up precious land for agriculture. (Pic: CIAT)

By Nilima Choudhury 

MEPs will vote today on whether to amend Europe’s biofuels legislation as part of plans to meet its 10% renewables target for transport.

There are concerns that the production of biofuels is leading to starvation in poor countries, driving up food prices and in some cases leading to a rise in carbon emissions.

In July the European Parliament’s Environment Committee (ENVI) backed measures setting a cap on biofuels made from food crops to 5.5%.

The industry wants this to be set at 6.5%, but amidst fierce lobbying, the Parliament will now have its say, followed by member states.

The committee is also asking for the inclusion of pollution from clearing areas like rainforests, or indirect land use change (ILUC) when calculating  carbon emissions savings offered by biofuels.

It wants ‘advanced biofuels’ – energy produced from other sources, such as seaweed or certain types of waste – to account for no less than 2% of energy consumption by 2020.

Why is this vote taking place?

In 2008 the EU decided that 10% of transport fuel by 2020 should be derived from renewable sources. At the time most of this had to come from sugar, cereals and oilseeds, often called first generation biofuels.

Studies since then have highlighted the potential environmental and human damage these can cause. This week Friends of the Earth issued a report warning that palm oil was now accounting for up to 20% of some biodiesels.

Last week Actionaid released research claiming biofuels were driving thousands of Africans into poverty.

And in April 2013 the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) warned the role of biofuels in guaranteeing EU energy security was not proven, and said subsidies were inefficient.

This rising tide of criticism and reports prompted MEPs to take another look at the biofuels policy.

What’s at stake? 

For one, this is now big business. The IISD calculated that the annual value of the EU biofuel market was worth €13–16 billion in 2010-2011.

The industry has warned of plant closures and job losses if MEPs vote for a lower (5.5%) limit.

The area of European land used to grow energy crops to supply biofeedstock to biofuel refineries is larger than the area of Belgium and replaces the output of two or three large fossil-fuel refineries.

Critics say biofuels are driving fuel prices up. In April a report from the Chatham House think tank stated that biofuels could cost UK motorists about £460 million ($700 million) in the year ahead.

EU renewable energy targets could go up in smoke if the biofuels industry is dealt a blow.

A spokesperson for the Renewable Energy Association (REA) which represents the industry told RTCC that if the cap is too low it would adversely affect the EU’s decarbonisation target.

How does indirect land-use change fit in?

Development and environmental groups argue indirect land-use change (ILUC) has not been part of previous calculations relating to carbon emission savings from biofuels.

Specifically many are worried about the destruction of rainforests in Africa and Indonesia to grow palm oil.

A Greenpeace report, Certifying Destruction, used satellite imagery, government data, field investigations, and third party analysis to find that 300,000 hectares of forest were cleared for oil palm plantations between 2009 and 2011 in Indonesia.

The EU’s proposal on ILUC caused by biofuels aims to transition the industry from biofuels made from food crops to ‘advanced biofuels’ produced from other materials, like waste, algae and residues.

Advanced biofuels have the potential to achieve high carbon emission savings without posing significant threats to other environmental factors, but as a recent briefing from NGO Client Earth argues, not all of them are necessarily sustainable.

According to the Guardian, the UK Foreign Office is backing the 5.5% target as a result of concerns over ILUC.

The industry says the science surrounding ILUC is based on “unsound science and emotive NGO campaigning on food prices”.

Do biofuels drive hunger? 

The REA says not, pointing out that only 2% of global arable land is used for biofuels and the vast majority of EU biofuels feedstocks are crops grown in Europe.

“The European Commission estimates that bioethanol production constituted only 3% of total cereal use in 2010/2011,” says industry spokesperson Clare Wenner.

NGOs disagree. Oxfam says that if the land used to produce biofuels for the EU in 2008 had been used to produce wheat and maize instead, it could have fed 127 million people.

Actionaid’s recent report on Sierra Leone’s nascent biofuel industry says it has adversely affected the lives of 13,000 people in 60 villages.

Save the Children has called on governments to place a moratorium on biofuels expansion and to review current targets.

Does the EU need biofuels?

Again – it’s a mixed bag.

A report from Dutch research institute CE Delft recommended investment in energy efficiency, renewable electricity, and biofuels from from waste and residues as opposed to conventional biofuels.

The IISD’s research indicated that proposed tightening of the EU’s car efficiency targets would be a “viable low-cost policy measure with multiple benefits”

It added: “the implementation of a 95 gCO 2 /km emissions standard by 2020 provides a cost-effective means of abating carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) compared to subsidizing the production and consumption of biofuel”.

But the industry seems in no doubt that it offers a clean and cost effective way for the EU to cut emissions.

“Renewable ethanol in Europe is a sustainable, clean-burning fuel, with greenhouse gas (GHG) savings on average 50% higher than petrol,” writes Rob Vierhout, secretary-general of ePURE, a business lobby group.

What happens next?

A vote will take place on Wednesday in the Parliament, followed by negotiations between member states.

Countries with strong farming lobbies like France, Poland and Spain back higher targets, while the UK, Belgium and Netherlands prefer a lower cap.

Expect more reports and press releases from NGOs and the industry, and more tweets from MEPs (see below)

Keith Taylor Green MEP for south east region:

‘To put it simply, I think that productive land should be used to feed people, not to feed the rich world’s addiction to driving. As things stand, the renewable energy target for transport does nothing to protect our environment and instead incentivises the production of biofuels which contribute to food price hikes for the poorest people on earth.”

NW constituents are rightly concerned about the damaging cap on #biofuels which will affect UK industry. Today I voted against the cap #ILUC

— Sajjad H Karim MEP (@SHKMEP) September 10, 2013

Second Generation of biofuels creates a win-win: taking difficult waste and transforming it into sustainable fuel. Remarkable achievement.

— Catherine Stihler (@C_Stihler_MEP) September 9, 2013

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Arnold Schwarzenegger has warned against trying to use guilt to win support for climate policies, using the example of his fleet of green Humvees.

Asked how Americans could be persuaded to support action on climate change and give up their love of big cars, Schwarzenegger said that was not the message to be pushing.

“We should not make people guilty about driving big or fast or powerful cars but we should let them know that they can be part of the solution by changing the technology in their cars,” he said.

“For example my Hummers are now biofuel and hydrogen and one of them is being converted to electric right now. We don’t have to make people feel guilty.”

“If you want to sit in your Jacuzzi all day long do it, but have solar panels. We need to make people feel part of the solution and make the environment movement more hip, snappy, modern and sexy,” he added.

The Governator in the H2H hydrogen powered Hummer. The car would usually run on a V8 six litre petrol engine (Source: GM Motors)

The former Governor of California was in Brussels to announce an agreement between his R20 Regions for Climate Action network and the European Commission.

The R20 focuses on action at the sub-national level. Something Schwarzenegger achieved during his stint as Governor. The state’s cap and trade system, signed into law during his term launched in November last year and has proved to be a relative success.

He added that while a global agreement to reduce emissions was important, there was still plenty to be done below the national level.

“The world is waiting for Kyoto 2, an international treaty so we have a common goal for a sustainable energy future. I believe there are still a lot of challenges ahead to get this treaty done even though great progress is being made.

“When I was governor of the state of California we didn’t wait for wash or any kind of international treaty. We moved forward very aggressively and passed great laws that became an inspiration to other states and to other countries all over the world. This is why I created the R20.”

President Obama is expected to announce a suite of measures on Tuesday to reduce emissions but is highly unlikely to be able to go as far as California and establish a national cap on emissions.

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United Nations negotiations to contain emissions from planes and ships recommence in Montreal and London this week, with hopes for a global climate change deal in 2015 resting on these two sectors.

Only China, USA, India and Russia emit more atmosphere-warming greenhouse gases than the global contribution of shipping and aviation, which tops 1.6 bn tonnes of CO2 a year.

These talks are difficult given the limited alternatives to each mode of transport and increasing demand around the planet.

Technological fixes from biofuels to airships are still a long way away from making significant contributions. Limiting the emissions of each industry in its current form is best bet.

As both sectors are covered by their very own dedicated UN bodies, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), it is here where negotiations on tackling their contribution to climate change takes place.

This week both will meet to discuss establishing some form of financial system to encourage emissions reductions, with many analysts predicting US engagement in aviation talks could pre-empt a breakthrough.

Measures to cut aviation and shipping emissions face a landmark week (Source: Flickr/Conanil)

Neither has enjoyed rapid progress but as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) homes in on its 2020 global deal to be agreed by 2015, both risk being left behind.

“It would be crazy for ICAO to get out of sync with those [deadlines], it would mean that the industry was showing slower progress than is being shown elsewhere,” says Jean Leston, WWF-UK’s transport team leader.

The EU triggered outrage by including international flights in its regional carbon market and backed down in November 2012 on the condition that ICAO demonstrated progress on an international deal.

With one general assembly every three years, this Autumn’s meeting is the last timely throw of the dice.

“It’s all to play for but the USA is the real key country here,” explains Leston. “If the US can make any strong statement to support more rapid progress in ICAO and demonstrate their commitment to rapid progress in ICAO some big emerging economies will probably follow suit.”

The countries she is referring to are principally China and India. China, she says is more open minded about the possibility of some form of emissions trading or mandatory carbon offsetting system for the sector. India has dug its heels in.

“It sees the ICAO negotiations as a subset of the UNFCCC negotiations and they want Common But Differentiated Responsibility (CBDR) to be first and foremost,” says Leston.

CBDR is a founding principle of the UNFCCC talks designed to ensure rich nations take responsibility for their emissions and poorer countries aren’t over-burdened with obligations that hinder their economic development.

The ICAO climate conference will build many of the arguments ahead of weeks of formal negotiations covering ICAO’s full remit. All eyes will be on US climate change envoy Todd Stern when the agenda turns to climate change.

Shipping

The IMO talks have come up against the CBDR issue even more violently. The IMO makes rule for ships not countries. Its foundation is built on the idea of treating all countries the same. Fulfilling both of these conditions is not easy but there are signs of progress there too.

The IMO holds environment meetings roughly every eight months and this week’s sitting could yield meaningful results.

Mark Lutes is a policy coordinator with WWF and is a veteran of the IMO talks. He says some of the tensions created by the adoption of major energy efficiency regulations in 2011, are melting away. This means the sector could make a contribution to global emission reduction sooner rather than later.

“They should be looking at the same deadlines as the UNFCCC as the outer limits of what they can do. They should be able to do it sooner. I think shipping and aviation should be able to contribute to pre-2020 ambition as well,” he says referring to the emerging climate treaty’s goal to find new ways to slash emissions prior to the global deal coming into force in 2020.

Industry

Leston says the aviation sector is supportive of a market based mechanism with airlines and plane manufacturers joining NGOs and most governments in looking for a solution. The airlines’ preference is for an offsetting system however. This would not generate money in the same way as a carbon levy or an emissions trading scheme.

“We would consider that a terrible missed opportunity because revenue generation could help them invest in greater energy efficiency and biofuels. It would help the industry to decarbonise and could also help provide climate finance to developing countries,” says Leston.

Waning industry support for a system to curb shipping emissions could be the one cloud hanging over the IMO talks in London.

“I get the impression that the industry is sensing less political pressure for an agreement, so they may take a harder line. A few years ago the EU was pushing strongly for a regional or an international measure. The industry could now think that they can get away with doing nothing now,” warns Lutes.

With responsibility for both sectors moved out of the spotlight of the UNFCCC talks, it is easy to over look the talks. As atmospheric CO2 cruises above 400ppm, the opportunity to cut emissions without waiting for the 2015 deal shouldn’t be missed.

The post USA holds key to aviation emissions deal appeared first on Climate Home News.

It was 16.05kg to be precise, but despite my modest emissions, the CarbonDiem app has still been an eye opener.

While everybody knows travelling by train or bus is better for the environment than car, it’s not until you see the differences visually that it hits home.

For the past week the app has tracked five days of my weekly commute across London and a weekend trip 60km north to visit family.

My usage through a fairly standard seven days was low given how little I ever need to travel by car, but seeing the difference in emissions from the walking to driving to the trains, provides a powerful nudge in the right direction.

The CarbonDiem app allows smartphone users to track the greenhouse gases created by their travel choices. It currently works for multi-modal land transport across the whole of the EU and for flights anywhere in the world.

Simply download the app, turn on your GPS and away you go. It’s easy to use and understand with colours assigned to different modes of transport and map overlays showing exactly where you have been and what impact that travel had.

My travel footprint during one week shows an excursion out of London massively out-emitted my daily commute into the centre of town.

The World Resources Institute estimates that 14.3% of emissions are from transport while the UK government puts the national figure at closer to a quarter.

There is potential for businesses to make great use of the app by aggregating employee travel impacts.

Not only can this show people where they might do better (cutting out short, unnecessary car journeys for example or flying a big red flag on short flights) it could also help businesses to monitor and reduce their overall emissions from travel.

From April this year, all businesses trading on the London Stock Exchange will be required to submit sustainability reporting.

CarbonDiem has developed a desktop monitoring tool, CSR Pro, to collate all employees’ data.

This is one of a number of tools that could help companies not only to comply with these minimum standards, but to make a positive contribution to reducing their emissions. British Telecom and the BBC have already signed up for the service and trials are ongoing in six different countries.

CarbonDiem is available for Android and Blackberry smartphones with an Apple version on the way. The company does not hold personal location data.

Video: CarbonDiem walkthrough

The post My 16kg transport carbon footprint appeared first on Climate Home News.

The US drought in 2012 was second only to that of the dust bowl era of the 1930s. While this single event cannot be attributed solely to climate change, it is widely acknowledged to have made a significant contribution.

The US army engineers have begun clearing rock pinnacles on the river bed and dredging to keep the route passable with queues of barges carrying corn, soya and other commodities to the Gulf coast.

The American Waterways Operators trade association and Waterways Council policy group estimates that January closures will hold up $2.8bn worth of trade, will affect 8000 jobs as well as creating more problems further down the supply chain.

$180bn of cargo is transported along the Mississippi River every year. (Source: Flickr/eschhipul)

Reservoirs upstream of the affected areas of the Mississippi have been further reduced as water was released to irrigate the local area. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has predicted that the river’s level will reach an all time low on January 15.

The only consolation for shippers on the Mississippi is that winter is a quiet period for freight traffic on the river with just $7bn of its annual $180bn of cargo moving in January and December.

As well as causing $20bn in losses for US farmers, the drought also affects the energy sector. Coal is transported along the Mississipi, nuclear plants require freshwater for cooling and two of its largest hydropower plants including the Hoover Dam have suffered with reservoirs approaching 50% of their capacity.

The US also witnessed an outbreak of the West Nile virus, linked to the drought conditions.

The US is not alone in feeling these effects however. The Rhone, one of the five largest rivers in France, could lose 30% of its volume by 2050, according to regional officials.

The post Drought set to close Mississippi River trade route appeared first on Climate Home News.

Reinventing the wheel is a derogatory expression for those inventions that don’t quite yield progress.

The Fliz may or may not fall into that category. It is essentially an updating of the velocipede concept, the fore father of the bicycle, which enjoyed their hey day around 200 years ago.

Once you are strapped in and hanging down from the middle of the Fliz’ n-shaped frame, you use your legs to propel yourself forward, with steering and brakes borrowed from a conventional bike.

The Fliz modern velocipede in action. (Source: Fliz)

The carbon fibre frame is low enough that you can put your feet down easily. Combined with the disc brakes, the Fliz  is designed to glide through crowds of pedestrians more safely than a cyclist can.

The result is the same downhill bias as a micro scooter or a skateboard, only the Fliz offers better handling and will bear your weight, allowing gravity to provide some suspension along the way.

Whether this preferable to a more traditional bike, the bus, or just walking is up to you. The velocipede is back, but whether its new incarnation will last longer, remains to be seen.

I’ll be checking out some of the world’s coolest low carbon gadgets on a weekly basis. If you spot something we should review email me on jp (at) climatechangenews.com

VIDEO: The Fliz roadtest

The post Cool climate: The bike that has no pedals appeared first on Climate Home News.

In 2007, the shipping industry emitted more CO2 than Germany.

By 2050, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) estimates that the 2007 tally of 870 million tonnes of CO2 could be 2-3 times bigger as the industry continues to grow unless action is taken. That’s more than modern day Russia and India combined.

Taxes on international transport are considered by the UN climate change agency, the UNFCCC, a potential source of contributions to its climate finance programme, the Green Climate Fund (GCF), which has a target of raising $100bn annually by 2020. A charge on shipping emissions is considered as a significant potential contributor with a fair degree of predictability.

The responsibility for figuring out how to do that lies with the IMO – with the hope that any deal will respect the UNFCCC’s guiding principle of Common But Differentiated Responsibility (CBDR).

CBDR is designed to ensure that those who made the greatest contribution to causing climate change and who are best equipped to respond, take on the greatest burden to tackle it. An IMO deal without it would not gain support at the UNFCCC.

This is where the complications begin.

While the UNFCCC’s members discuss regulations for countries, the IMO’s Parties are regulating ships.

Slapping levies only on ships from developed countries, could trigger mass re-registration of ships to sovereign nations where those levies do not apply, a process known as “reflagging”.

The IMO pursues a “no more favourable treatment” policy to keep the global shipping fleet under one global set of rules. This doesn’t sit too well with the concept of CBDR.

Shipping emissions represent around 3% of global greenhouse gases. A levy could generate $10bn a year for the Green Climate Fund. (Source: Flickr/Conanil)

A flat rate would also mean developing nations would be hit with the same charges as the wealthiest. The poorest nations are not responsible for the mass manufacturing growth or consumption patterns that drive the supply and demand for sea freight.

The most recent meeting of the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) in London last month included some of the first hazy outlines of what a resolution to this problem might look like.

“The two principles can be compatible,” says Mark Lutes, Policy Coordinator at the WWF Global Climate and Energy Initiative who follows the IMO talks closely.

“These [conflicts] are characterised by strong differences between rich and poor. I think we can recognise and respond to those differences in ways that are compatible with the traditional approach of the IMO based on non-discrimination.

“Developing countries have accepted that a system has to be based on non-discrimination. That’s a sign that they are abandoning the problematic position of insisting that any measures had to be voluntary for ships from developing countries and mandatory for ships from developed countries. That represents some flexibility on the part of the developing countries,” says Lutes, adding that a proposal by Singapore to encourage nations to consider CBDR could represent “the sweetspot of compromise”.

$10bn a year for Green Climate Fund

Part of the reason for this growing optimism is the prospect of an international levy on shipping applicable to all ships, but which also funds a rebate mechanism for the governments of countries with a low value of national imports.

The rebate can therefore ensure that developing countries, which Lutes is at pains to point out would not necessarily be defined by the UNFCCC’s roster of Annex I and non-Annex I status, are not disproportionately harmed by the levy.

Lutes says shipping could be worth $10bn a year to the GCF even after rebates and investment in the sector has been taken into account so the stakes are high.

“The design of the mechanism is going to be so important to ensure that we find a solution without creating barriers to trade and development,” says Edmund Hughes, Technical Officer for air pollution and climate change with the IMO.

“There are a few phases we have to go through to do this. We have to update the Green House Gas inventory for shipping. The next phase is an impact assessment, particularly the impact on developing countries,” says Hughes.

“Policy makers have to be aware of the knock-on effects of these policies. If there is going to be an impact [on developing countries] then we need to also know that will be mitigated, and how that will be done.”

Incentive

Talks on the finer points of the mechanism will continue. In the meantime the industry is likely to be on the end of further accusations of obstructing environmental issues as those following the UNFCCC talks wrongly assume no progress is being made.

The reality is that there is a massive incentive for the sector to cut its emissions now, before a market mechanism is complete.

“Fuel represents 50-70% of a shipping operators costs but when most of the fleet that is at sea today was built, it was four times cheaper than it is today,” says Hughes.

With prices so high, Hughes argues that this could be the most opportune time to help the industry to reduce its fuel costs. Emission cuts are bound to follow.

Related articles:

WWF: Shipping emissions tax worth $10bn a year to the Green Climate Fund

Call for UN climate agency to back Robin Hood Tax

Aviation battle lines drawn as first attempt at a global carbon deal turns sour

The IMO has developing two frameworks to improve ships’ efficiency. The Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) applies stringent criteria for new ships to ensure run as efficiently as is reasonable to expect.

The Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP) applies to all ships promoting improved hydrodynamics to reduce drag and smarter routing of ships. Why go full speed to port only to sit by the dockside for longer?

“The savings can be as much as 10-50%, a lot of that can be attributed to speed which is a significant factor in the energy efficiency of a ship,” says Hughes. That means shipping operators achieving the magic number of 50% could cut their overall operating costs by 25-35%. What better incentive?

Will the EU “do an aviation”?

Shipping and aviation are often lumped together in discussions at the UNFCCC, but in reality they are hugely different.

Aircraft tend to travel along set routes, and don’t change course in the middle of a journey unlike ships.

“Most aircraft are for passenger carriage whereas most shipping is for cargo. There is a lot more variability in general so trying to establish a system that is fit for, and captures all those variants is going to be quite a challenge,” says Hughes.

China, India, Russia and the US have led opposition to the EU’s regional aviation levy. (Source: Creative Commons/Julian Herzog)

Aviation has become a poison pill at the climate negotiations after the EU chose to include all flights using EU airports in its carbon trading system regardless of which country the airline is from. China, the USA, Russia and India were furious.

Fears that the EU would grow impatient with the IMO have now relented.

“The EU have now said they’ve had a change of heart and announced that they aren’t going to look for a regional market based measure. Their focus will now be on establishing an measuring, reporting and verification (MRV) system for all ships entering EU ports,” says Hughes.

“In a way that acknowledges and recognises that there are some unique challenges for the shipping industry compared to the aviation industry,” says Hughes pointing out the potential of a rift to disrupt international trade.

Lutes is equally relieved to see the EU distancing itself from developing its own system.

“It is particularly difficult to do a regional mechanism with shipping. The EU seems to have more of an interest in MRV and efficiency right now. Whether you are working on efficiency measures or levies or trading, you need a platform to measure, report and verify emissions so any MRV system they want to pursue could lay the groundwork for a global measure on shipping in the future,” says Lutes.

The post Why taxing shipping emissions is not all plain sailing appeared first on Climate Home News.

The London 2012 fleet is bringing new carbon-cutting technology to the roads, from efficient diesel, hybrid and electric cars to advanced software for smart journey planning.

Greening the fleet that will ferry and supply the Olympics’ participants is key to London 2012’s sustainability ambitions.

For the sponsors, it gives them both a trialling ground and a showcase for innovative technologies. Assuming they pass muster, it should speed their adoption more widely.

The BMW 1602 Elektro was used in the Marathon at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. (Source: Flickr/sixate)

Take BMW, which is providing the full fleet of approximately 3,200 vehicles as part of its role as Official Automotive Partner to London 2012. LOCOG asked for average carbon emissions across the fleet of 120g/km, well below the UK car average of 138.1g/km – but BMW has surpassed this, achieving an average 116g/km.

The German car manufacturer, which also owns brands including MINI and Rolls-Royce, has a history of promoting the greener option at sporting events. Back in 1972 it provided an electric car – the 1602 – for the marathon race at the Munich Games.

It sees London as a chance to test the full spectrum of low-emission solutions, from diesel to hybrid and electric cars, to motorcycles and bicycles – and find out how they stand up to the high demand and strict schedules of a world city on show. For Chris Brownridge, UK Marketing Director at BMW, the London 2012 fleet “shows what BMW technology can achieve today in terms of fuel economy and low emissions”.

Most of the London 2012 fleet consists of BMW’s range of Efficient Dynamics diesels, which meet the EU’s new emissions standard (EU6) two years before it comes into force in September 2014.

The BMW 320d Efficient Dynamics Saloon emits 109g/km, and makes up almost the half the Olympic fleet, on call for everything from the Torch Relay to medical services and route management for the cycling events.

The fleet also includes petrol hybrids and fuel-efficient motorcycles, plus 200 BMW ActiveE and MINI E electric vehicles, which will shuttle medal-winners from the podium to the press centre. BMW recently completed the largest-ever trial of this technology.

Spectators can visit the company’s pavilion in the Park to get a closer look at the cars of the future. Team coaches and race officials will follow the water-based sports on BMW Cruise bicycles, and some of the London 2012 workforce may also be seen cruising between venues on an electrically assisted folding bike, the Pedelec.

However impressive the range of vehicles and their many applications, they can’t simulate the future in any meaningful way without the right infrastructure. One legacy that will outlive the ambitious fleet is a network of 114 EV charging points, capable of a full charge in just four hours. Installed across London, these count towards the city’s target of 1,300 public points by 2013, and are the result of a partnership between EDF and GE, working with TfL.

Biofuels

But electric isn’t the only green power being piloted at the Games. A range of three new advanced renewable biofuels developed by BP will be trialled at the Games, and are expected to fuel more than 100 of the Games fleet.

These fuels offer impressive sustainability benefits which could soon reach the mainstream, explains Phil New, Head of Biofuels at BP. The company has invested $2 billion in its biofuels business since 2006 – demonstrating a level of commitment towards its development far beyond that of a corporate social responsibility sideline. “These are not niche applications”, says New. “We absolutely intend for them to compete with crude [oil] in the future.”

BMW support cars during the London 2012 Cycling Road Race. (Source: Flickr/P D)

Some of these new biofuels are already close to commercialisation, says New. One is cellulosic ethanol, which uses biochemistry to extract sugars from the entire plant, giving it a 75% carbon saving on conventional petrol. BP has also developed groundbreaking technology to create diesel fuel from sugarcane. And the third fuel is biobutanol, which can be used in higher concentrations than ethanol without compromising engine performance.

The biobutanol is being produced in Britain and could eventually be developed at scale here: New explains that BP’s new bioethanol plant in Hull can be converted for this purpose.

The Olympics will be the first time in Europe that these advanced biofuels have been trialled on a large scale. “Hopefully it will be a catalyst in demonstrating to people that biofuels can be done well and that new technologies are making progress”, said New. “It might shine a more balanced light on the debate, particularly in Britain, where it is more distorted than elsewhere. That would be a positive thing.”

Beyond the Games

Coca-Cola and logistics supplier UPS are both trialling an innovative low-carbon fuel, biomethane. It’s produced from organic waste, in this case derived from landfill. Coca-Cola is using biomethane as the sole fuel for its trucks, and UPS is combining it with diesel for use in its largest fleet vehicles. Both companies will consider rolling it out in their fleets across Europe, depending on how it performs.

“It’s potentially a really exciting fuel,” says Peter Harris, Director of Sustainability for UPS, pointing out that it’s one of the very few low-emission options for heavy goods vehicles. “If you use waste to generate vehicle fuel, then number one you are cutting down on waste, number two you are not using fossil fuels, and number three it makes a dramatic difference to the carbon footprint of the vehicle. It has a great potential.”

Doug Leaf, Business Development Director of Gasrec, the single supplier of biomethane in the UK, explains that it offers a 70% well-to-wheel CO2 saving on standard diesel.

At present, it only powers 220 vehicles across the UK, partly because of the extra expense of dual-fuel vehicles, and because a refuelling infrastructure is not yet in place. Leaf believes LOCOG could have done more to promote it. This sense of a missed opportunity is shared by Shaun McCarthy of the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012, who said he was “disappointed at the lack of innovation around alternative fuels and the relatively small quantities of advanced biofuel that will be in use”.

Fuel choice is one part of a wider picture, when it comes to keeping road-based emissions down. UPS is also piloting extra-capacity trailers, which allow it to take lorries off the road, and advanced telematics, which gathers information from the vehicle and driver about the day’s operation, so that improvements can be made the following day. This is a powerful tool for driving a more efficient fleet, Harris says.

David Stubbs of LOCOG says he is encouraged by the way the sponsors are using the Olympics as a test bed for new approaches: “Many of the suppliers are fast-tracking things they may have got round to, but maybe not for another five years or more. That in itself is quite a legacy.”

Katherine Symonds, Head of Sustainable Games at The Coca-Cola Company, agrees. Coca-Cola had a fleet of hybrid vehicles at the Vancouver Winter Games, she says, “but London 2012 has given us a reason to accelerate investments in sustainability for our wider business, and to go the extra mile. We’re not just doing this for the Games: all our efforts to cut waste and carbon are ultimately about strengthening our business in the long term”.

This article originally appeared in Green Futures, the leading magazine on environmental solutions and sustainable futures, published by Forum for the Future. Terry Slavin is a freelance journalist specialising in business and environment.

The post London 2012: A medal for innovation in the road race? appeared first on Climate Home News.

It is the biggest peacetime logistical exercise Britain has ever faced – the equivalent of holding 26 world championships simultaneously in the heart of the biggest and busiest city in Europe.

For more than two weeks, nine million spectators and 300,000 athletes, officials and media descend on a city whose aging public transport infrastructure and sclerotic roads network struggles to keep its seven million residents and businesses moving.

Keeping London moving during the Olympics is a major logistical challenge. (Source: Flickr/ArthursSword)

Small wonder that in the weeks leading up to the Games, the media was predicting transport chaos: a city-wide traffic jam as the capital’s arteries seize up. And yet the more lasting legacy may be quite the opposite. First, an array of new rail lines and cycleways, and truckloads of freight shifting from road to river, is helping to ease the flow. And second, good green habits learned during the Games – some of them out of necessity – could be a tipping point for lasting change.

Far from being a horror story of urban gridlock, says Shaun McCarthy, chairman of the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012, the independent body set up to monitor the sustainability of the Games, the Olympics “provide an incredible opportunity and we must grasp it with both hands”.

For the first time in its (modern) history, the organisers promised that 100% of the spectators, along with most of the workforce, would travel by public transport, bike or foot. (A few exceptions have been made for disabled drivers and taxis.) And 50% of the construction material, too, had to be delivered by rail or barge (the target was smashed with 64% being moved this way).

It was an ambitious goal which needed some sleek new infrastructure to get there. Hence the £6.5 billion spent on transforming East London from transport desert to one of the most well-connected parts of town.

There’s a second Docklands Light Railway line, a new branch of the East London line, and greater capacity on other routes, too. By comparison, a mere £10 million has been judged enough for 75km of new walking and cycling routes for the area, with the Barclays (‘Boris Bike’) cycle hire scheme being extended to embrace the Olympic Park.

Cycling’s not only the cheaper option – it’s also one with a huge potential for growth. That is the conclusion of a ‘transport legacy action plan’ drawn up by Transport for London [TfL] and a number of the capital’s authorities. Only 1% of all journeys in East London are made by bike – just half the city’s (still low, by European standards) average. TfL hopes that by promoting cycling heavily in schools and recruiting some high-profile cycle champions, through the London 2012 Active Travel Programme, it’ll provide a kick to the pedals.

A row of for hire cycles in London. The scheme has proved hugely popular with commuters looking to avoid the tube. (Source: Flickr/SirPecanGum)

London’s waterways, such as the Thames and the Lea, were once its principal freight highways. That’s a role which the Olympics organisers were keen to revive.

They dredged a stretch of the Lea to make it navigable by the big barges which ferried construction waste off the site. Logistics company UPS, which is handling the entire logistics of the Games, trialled using barges to transport some of the 750,000 items of furniture required for the Athletes’ Village from its warehouse at the Port of Tilbury to the Olympic Park.

Peter Harris, Director of Sustainability for UPS EMEA, explains that each barge can take the load of 20 container lorries. The trial will help establish the extent to which shifting freight onto the water can cut carbon and other emissions, and so help inform plans for the river’s future.

But no amount of tinkering with top-down modal shift will have much of an impact if people can’t be persuaded to change their travel choices. If all the new infrastructure works as hoped, says the legacy plan, then it could be “a once in a lifetime opportunity to change people’s perceptions of travel”.

It could have added that it will be a once in a lifetime essential, too. The height of the Games will see three million more daily journeys than normal in London.

Cue the media predictions of terminal snarl-up.

To keep the city moving, TfL aims to cut by 30% the ‘background’ traffic of those who would normally take public transport. Working with local authorities, Sustrans, the NHS, the Ramblers and others, it is encouraging Londoners to shift to walking or cycling through its Active Travel Programme – or even stay at home altogether.

A key feature is high-tech journey planning, with up to the minute information on the length of time different modes of transport will take to get from A to B. TfL hopes that when people realise how quick it is to walk or cycle, for example, instead of their usual habit of jumping on the Tube, they’ll form the sustainable habits of a lifetime.

The same message is going out to business, too. Groups such as the London Chamber of Commerce and London First are encouraging more deliveries by cycle or on foot, and where that isn’t possible, to streamline them via the use of TfL’s newly launched online freight journey planner.

They are also calling on businesses to adopt techniques like homeworking and video conferencing to cut out the need for the daily commute. In February, mobile phone network operator O2 asked a quarter of its 12,000 strong workforce to work remotely, to test the robustness of its IT systems. The company sees flexible working not just as a contingency plan for the Olympics, but as integral to its goal of saving 500,000 miles of travel over the next three years.

All these changes might be triggered by the necessity of avoiding an Olympian-scale jam during a few weeks in 2012 – but the long-term goal is to change the city’s travel habits for good.

This article originally appeared in Green Futures, the leading magazine on environmental solutions and sustainable futures, published by Forum for the Future. Terry Slavin is a freelance journalist specialising in business and environment.

The post Will 2012 Olympics win gold for curing London’s congestion curse? appeared first on Climate Home News.

The row over the EU’s aviation carbon trading scheme has intensified with both sides making ramping up the rhetoric.

The EU has included all flights that use EU airports in its emissions cap and trade system, regardless of the nationality of the airline. A number of countries including India, Russia and the US oppose the move citing it as unlawful.

The carbon trading platform requires industries to purchase credits for their carbon emissions with spare allowances traded to those who need extra.

The EU plan asks all airlines arriving or leaving from its airports to cover 15% of their emissions with carbon credits. (Source: Flickr: antwerpenR)

China is thought to be working on a retaliatory law for its own carbon market, which is still in the making and India airlines have already ignored a reporting deadline.

A Senate panel passed a bill yesterday, to stop US airlines from taking part in the EU plan was blasted by the US-based Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) while a group representing the American airline industry welcomed the move.

“This important legislation and the committee’s approval sends a strong message to the administration and the EU that Congress objects to this unilateral taxation scheme that will not benefit the environment,” said Nicholas E. Calio, President and CEO, Airlines for America.

The group’s statement also claimed: “The funds collected do not have to be used for environmental purposes and in fact can be used to stave off Europe’s debt crisis.”

Related stories

US: Talks will discuss “aspirational” global deal to cut aviation’s contribution to climate change

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Will the billions needed for climate change finance be found in Doha?

The EDF however, claimed the US had last interfered in international legislation through its own laws, during apartheid in South Africa.

“Legislation that blocks American companies from obeying the laws of the countries in which they do business is almost unprecedented in US history, showing up most recently when Congress barred American firms from suborning apartheid in South Africa,” said Annie Petsonk, international counsel at EDF.

“How disconcerting that airlines, which are spending significant funds touting their environmental friendliness, are acting as though an anti-pollution law is as grievous as a massive human rights violation,” added Petsonk.

A coalition of NGO’s including Oxfam America, the Sierra Club, Greenpeace and 350 have said the bill sets a “disturbing precedent of undermining international law”.

EU climate action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard, a vocal backer of the aviation carbon trading scheme vented her frustration on twitter.

Senate’s mark-up: hard to believe that Obama admin would use a tool that US has only used twice so far: apartheid and anti-Israel boycott

— Connie Hedegaard (@CHedegaardEU) August 1, 2012

The EC told RTCC they would not be issuing a statement as its policy is not to comment on unfinished legislation.

Funds from the aviation and shipping industries related to their emissions have been touted as a possible source of climate finance. However, opponents to that proposal and that of the EU, want any mechanism related to their emissions to be run through the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

If that process was successful it would be the first global deal on carbon emissions, a goal of the UN through it climate change agency the UNFCCC.

The second day of a meeting between 16 non-EU nations opposed to the European legislation takes place today.

The post Aviation battle lines drawn as first attempt at a global carbon deal turns sour appeared first on Climate Home News.

Beijing’s poor air pollution record preceded it in the run-up to the 2008 Olympics, but a new report suggests changes during the Games slashed the city’s carbon output.

A designated Olympics only lane in London, part of the city's transport strategy for the event. (Source: Flickr/Sludgegulper)

It’s a timely publication as research into London’s transport plan for the 2012 Olympics said it was expected that air pollution limits would be exceeded.

Today’s report from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) offers clear evidence that should those levels become unacceptable – there is a tried and tested method to reduce them – stop the traffic.

The scientists found that restrictions on vehicles during the Beijing Games cut emissions in the city by 20%.

Reporting from Beijing in 2008, the BBC’s Gordon Farquhar was one of many who observed just how bad the pollution was in the Chinese capital.

“All the talk has been about human rights but there has been a growing realisation that Beijing has a smog problem. People are beginning to come to terms with the fact it could be a major issue,” he said.

Olympic chief Jacques Rogge even suggested delaying some events in order to beat the smog – but instead the Beijing authorities took drastic action to reduce the grey-ish shroud hanging over the city.

Their first move was to close down heavily polluting factories in an effort to improve the situation, but the real root cause of the problem was from the city’s gridlocked streets.

It has now been shown that the subsequent changes to transport patterns they implemented – a topic covered by RTCC recently –  can make a huge contribution to cutting emissions and combating climate change.

In 2004 there were just over 2 million cars registered in Beijing, by 2008 this figure had nearly doubled. Policies included limiting car use to alternate days. Number-plates ending in odd numbers were allowed on the roads on odd-number calendar days and even-ending number-plates were permitted on even calendar days.

The move was a clear success – cutting Co2 emissions from 96,000 to 24,000  metric tons. But while this policy worked in China, more liberal governments struggle to enforce such far-reaching policies – and so far the organisers in London have adopted a fairly conservative policy over road closures – preferring to highlight public transport alternatives.

London has established high speed rail links from the city centre to the Olympic Park, built a cable car across the river in East London and established Olympic-only traffic lanes in an effort to keep traffic moving. The latter triggered a “go-slow” protest by taxi drivers over Tower Bridge the day before the lanes closed to regular traffic.

That said – many argue that the current traffic restrictions and transport investments implemented in London ahead of the Games could have longer-lasting effects.

A recent report by Global Action Plan, an environmental behaviour change charity based in the UK capital, believes that with good planning, resident’s Olympic back-up travel plans could become a permanent carbon-saving fixture.

One of the UK’s leading newsreaders – Channel 4’s John Snow – has blogged today on the new lane rules and the effect they have had on drivers coming into London. He argues they are ‘bliss’ and a model for other British cities.

“It happens that this has been brought about by the installation of Olympic lanes. But it could just as easily have been a day when for the sheer easing of the urban traffic madness a completely new approach was adopted,” he writes.

“Many drivers have decided not to come near Central London in a car. They must be encouraged to develop this habit.

“The Olympic Lanes across London send a powerful signal across all Britain’s cities about the art of the possible.”

FACT: The number of people cycling in London increased 117% between 2000 and 2010

“The Olympics present a once in a lifetime opportunity to boost productivity, cut costs and reduce damage to the environment,” said Trewin Restorick, CEO, Global Action Plan.

“UK businesses spend £17.5 billion per year on business travel, and that’s escalating all the time, as is the carbon this results in. There are better ways of doing business that can boost productivity, motivate employees and lower carbon emissions.

“It’s a win-win situation for both employers and employees, changing work and travel patterns for good, with the potential to leave a meaningful green Olympic legacy,” he added.

Move

So what options are available to residents? The one word on the front cover of the 2012 Transport Report is ‘Move’. While some Londoners may have considered moving out of town, there are less drastic options available, many of which can be continued all year round, not just during the games.

Global Action Plan (GAP) released five suggestions that businesses could follow to cut transport related costs and carbon.

1. Work from home one day a week. Shutting the office down one day a week save money, cuts carbon and boosts morale according to GAP. The right IT infrastructure is needed to support this however, as are the right employees…

2. Flexible working hours. This can help employees avoid the daily rush and spend more time in the office being productive than sitting in stationary traffic or negotiating the swarms in the train station.

3. Online meetings. Travel during working hours, not just commuting adds to costs, lowers output and of course, emits carbon. With the right tools, online collaboration can be a rich and effective resource. But…

4. Incentivise staff to travel less. Without incentives change will be slow. Microsoft’s departmental carbon budgets are an extreme example, small prizes and friendly competition can work too. The Lloyds Banking Group has banned travel one day a month forcing staff experiment with the alternatives.

5. Change from the top. Senior staff have to lead the way. Employees lower down the chain are unlikely to change their habits if their superiors are not leading the way.

The post Can London 2012 mimic Beijing’s Olympic carbon cuts? appeared first on Climate Home News.

Motor vehicles are responsible for 9.9% of global greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) according to the World Resources Institute.

There are lots of ways to cut this tally from the futuristic ‘pods’ at Masdar City, the roll-out of electric cars, hydrogen fuel cells and investing in vast public transport systems.

Efficient traffic management can cut carbon quickly. (Source: Flickr/StuckInCustoms)

But there are also simpler ways to reduce the impact of today’s traffic on the atmosphere, without making grand technology leaps or asking consumers to dig deep.

The key to this fix, is flow.

Traffic that stops and starts or even worse, queues for long periods of time, results in much more CO2 being emitted, angrier commuters, poorer urban air quality and lots of wasted money.

Railway networks operate fluidly when every train keeps on moving. Stop just one and the knock-on effects escalate rapidly. I speak from experience.

Traffic jams in the air and on the tarmac at airports also create huge volumes of unnecessary emissions. Airport operators such as the UK’s BAA, which runs Europe’s busiest airport, London Heathrow, have identified this problem as one of the most effective methods for them to reduce CO2.

For drivers, the most straight forward way to increase flow is to build more roads.

However, a study by Imperial College highlighted a problem with this.

When you build more roads, the experience improves and access increases. The result, people drive more. The Imperial researchers matched up the additional emissions from this extra travel against those saved from the freer-flowing traffic. The net results suggested that road building was not the answer.

Masdar City's Personal Rapid Transport system is an interesting but expensive solution for cutting carbon from transport. (Source: Masdar)

Picking winners

There are ways to keep the traffic moving on the roads without investing in more tarmac.

One common method is to impose additional charges on cars that enter particularly congested areas during peak times. This would be the ‘stick’ method. Not popular and politically ‘difficult’.

A Stanford University Engineering Professor has been working on a much kinder ‘carrot’ system.

Drivers entering and leaving the University complex outside of peak hours are awarded credits for use in an online raffle. Spreading its traffic load beyond the traditional rush hours cuts congestion and emissions. The top prize of $50 may not be enough to let you quit your day job but it has other benefits.

Improving the sustainability of a city's transport needs doesn't have to mean ditching the car. (Source: Flickr/Robthemoment)

Users of the system can view each others’ progress and see when a frequent off-peak traveller is upgraded to a “platinum member” creating a social, aspirational incentive too.

The system’s founder says it is only made possible by today’s technology.

“We couldn’t think about doing this kind of thing in the 20th century,” said Balaji Prabhakar, the electrical engineering professor behind the scheme. “With today’s technology, it’s feasible to install low-cost sensors on a wireless network and make use of new Internet technology.”

Prabhakar’s scheme is even plugged into member’s Facebook accounts to promote their good deeds further.

The technology theme rears its head again on the other side of the Atlantic.

The EU estimates that nothing other than better planning and traffic management could lead to 20% cut in snarl up and 30% fewer accidents. It has proposed integrating its technology and transport reviews to ensure the maximum benefit.

A Brussels White Paper published in March 2011 recommended a widespread roll-out of Smart technology for freight vehicles and a network of infrastructure monitoring. This would create real-time information on which traffic was headed where, and which was going nowhere fast.

The not so subtle alternative

More dramatic ideas are being floated elsewhere in the world but these are expensive, unproven and will take years to develop.

The experimental Masdar City in Abu Dhabi has developed an automated personal transport system, part-tram part cable car.

Two plans from China and Taiwan are even more drastic including a train that doesn’t stop, designed to increase the number of passengers the rail networks can carry, and a bus on stilts that passes over the regular traffic (see video below).

London has initiated a new river crossing ahead of the Olympics, opting for a cable car rather than a ferry, a bridge or a tunnel. It’s non-stop motion might be the ultimate in flow, but others would classify it as a gimmick.

Regardless of the method, keeping traffic moving instead of spewing out emissions for no gain makes sense. The challenge finding cost effective ways to keep the growing number of cars on the world’s roads and planes in its skies, from using energy regardless of its source, as efficiently as possible.

Just as with the energy sector however, efficiency and planning are far less sexy than wind mills and solar panels, or in this case electric cars, cycle hire schemes and other legacy projects.

VIDEO: The straddling bus concept makes a degree of sense, but are there simpler ways to keep traffic moving?

The post Don’t stop moving: How to cut transport’s contribution to climate change appeared first on Climate Home News.

For those of you not living in London with less than two weeks to the Olympic Games, its mark is everywhere.

Colourful mascots representing various city landmarks have been deployed around town.

The Union Jacks out for the Queen’s Jubilee have been replaced with those of all the Olympic nations and the city’s travel system is undergoing a Games makeover too.

The Underground system has been re-labelled to include the key venues. Locals have been urged to “Beat the Games” (i.e. go on holiday or find another way to work) and some roads are closed off for ‘official’ traffic only.

The three medals for the London 2012 Olympics. (Source: LOCOG)

The big corporate sponsors are on show too. We won’t go into the ‘McDonalds ban chips in Olympic Park’ story – although if you’re interested you can read all about it on Tom Chivers’ Telegraph blog.

Among them, BP has announced that three “advanced biofuels” will power 100 of the 5000 strong fleet of official games vehicles. The Olympic sponsor will trial sugar to diesel, biobutanol and cellulosic ethanol.

“These breakthrough technologies will redefine biofuels. By incorporating them in the fuels for London 2012 we have taken the next generation of biofuels from the laboratory to the road,” claims Philip New, CEO BP Biofuels.

So how advanced are these biofuels and more to the point, how sustainable is this increasingly popular form of energy?

First off – biofuel feedstocks, the raw material used to create the fuel, should ideally not cross with food sources, displace land that could be used for food and should require minimal fertilisation.

For these reasons, many disapprove of their use and negative stories about land grabs, food price hikes and corporate greed have muddied the waters further.

Ideally, you want the lowest environmental impact from the feedstock, the most efficient energy conversion to fuel and the lowest emissions when it is burned.

In the Olympic spirit I have awarded each of the three biofuels BP will operate throughout the Games the appropriate medal, based on the sustainability and potential of each technology.

Sugar to diesel

Nothing especially new here. Biodiesel is typically produced from Soya bean oil – putting it in conflict with food supplies.

BP estimates in its Energy Outlook that liquid biofuels could represent 7% of the global total by 2030, up from the 3% tally today.

There will be few fans backing biodiesel to make up that extra four percent.

Verdict: Bronze Medal, by default only

Biobutanol

Developed by Butamax (not to be confused with Betamax) a joint venture between chemical firm DuPont and BP, the firm has already developed a demonstration plant for biobutanol and plans to push on for commercialisation.

Biobutanol uses the same feedstocks as ethanol but has several advantages. It can be used in a 5:1 blend with regular petrol and used in standard engines with hopes to increase this to 3:1 in the future. It provides better fuel economy than ethanol and double the greenhouse gas emission reductions.

Verdict: Silver Medal, needs less new infrastructure for storage and transport and could allow older vehicles to run on a quarter biofuel without any modification to their vehicle. Still needs corn, wheat and sugar however.

The biofuel industry has plenty of potential but question remain over the sustainability of some technologies. (Source: Copyright BP)

Cellulosic Ethanol

This process is the one that could win round many critics. It allows lower energy grasses that can grow on land where food crops cannot be sustained, eliminating the food versus fuel dilemma. It is then blended with a more traditional fuel and ready to run.

The technology is not yet commercialised but BP were encouraged enough to pay almost $100m in 2009 for Verenium who produced the enzymes required to for the process of extracting the energy from the perennial grasses.

Verdict: Gold Medal but the real reward will come with commercialisation

Pursuing biofuels ‘immoral’

It’s worth emphasising that Biofuels are an intensely hot topic at the moment – especially given the pressure on the supply of food around the world.

ActionAid has been especially vocal in its opposition to biofuels and is less than impressed with the promise of so-called next generation fuels – and Clare Coffey, Policy Advisor, ActionAid UK has sent us the following statement.

“Given the dismal record of EU biofuels policies to date, it is hardly surprising that people’s hopes are with the next generation of biofuel technologies.

“But if we have learnt anything from the current biofuel debacle, it’s that we need to be absolutely certain that whatever their ‘generation’, biofuels must not involve precious land or water being diverted from growing food to growing fuel.

“With a billion people going to bed hungry every night and the world on the brink of another food crisis, new policies that promote crop based biofuels would be nothing short of immoral,” she added.

RELATED LINKS

18 July 2012: US Great Green Fleet sets sail
26 April 2012: Do biofuels have a sustainable future?
3 February 2012: Biofuels could add 100BN to fuel bills

RELATED VIDEO: Thierry Nowaczyk from Airbus explains how they are pioneering biofuel powered flights – with an ultimate aim to run planes on a 50% mix

The post Are there any winners in BP’s Olympic biofuel showcase? appeared first on Climate Home News.

One hundred and five years ago the US Navy was flexing its muscles by sending the 16 ships of what would become known as The Great White Fleet to tour the world. Its goal was to inspire fear and admiration in equal measure.

In 2016, The Great Green Fleet aims to do the same, only powered entirely by alternative energy sources. It moves a step closer to reality this week as the enormous biennial RIMPAC naval exercise gets underway off the coast of Hawaii.

The US Department of Defense is the largest single user of fossil fuels. The Navy alone is hit with a $20million bill for every $1 increase in the price of oil.

Despite widespread scepticism on climate change in the US, the Pentagon has led the way on biofuels research as it looks to secure its energy supply and wean itself off fossil fuels.  Secretary of the Navy, and former Mississippi Governor and Ambassador to oil-rich Saudi Arabia, Ray Mabus says this is not an option.

“We can’t afford not to do this. First, our dependence on foreign sources of fossil fuel is rife with danger for our nation and it would be irresponsible to continue it. Second, paying for spikes in oil prices means we may have less money to spend on readiness, which includes procurement. We could be using that money for more hardware and more platforms,” said Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus.

Great Green Fleet

The Great Green Fleet will be an alternative energy-powered Carrier Strike Group featuring a nuclear-powered attack submarine and aircraft carrier as well as destroyer and cruiser class missile ships and numerous support and supply vessels, powered by biofuels.

It is scheduled for launch in 2016.

The biggest headline grabber during this new green fleet’s trials during RIMPAC is the use of 900,000 gallons of a 50:50 biofuel blend.

The mix was transferred to the USS Nimitz at sea during the exercise.

The RIMPAC exercise involves numerous Navies, 25,000 personnel, 40 ships and this year, 900,000 gallons of biofuels. (Source: Flickr/US Pacific Fleet)

“Department of Navy investments in biofuel will encourage a competitively priced, and domestically produced, alternative to conventional fuel,” said Tom Hicks Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy.

“The prices for biofuel have already dropped dramatically since we first began purchasing it for testing,” said Hicks. “Such investments help the Navy and the nation become less dependent on foreign oil, and thus less subject to volatility in oil prices that directly affect our readiness.”

The cost of the blend works out at $15 a gallon, half what it cost on 2009. The price continues to halve every three years it will reach the $3.75 mark in 2018.

Consumer gasoline prices in the US are currently hovering around the $3 mark.

The biofuels are made from used cooking oil and algae rather than competing with land-based food crops, boosting their sustainability.

The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz will operate with a 50:50 blend of biofuel during the RIMPAC exercise off the coast of Hawaii. (Source: Flickr/US Pacific Fleet)

The fleet will also be using an energy efficiency dashboard to help personnel monitor and adapt usage.

Incandescent and fluorescent bulbs have been replaced, ship’s hulls have been streamlined to reduce drag and engine modifications have improved efficiency.

There are currently moves afoot in Washington to prevent the Pentagon from investing in biofuels until they compete on price with conventional fuels.

The Navy says it won’t buy any unconventional fuels for operational use until that happens. The massive bulk purchases they are making now meanwhile, are helping to bring down costs for everyone.

Should those wishing to shutdown biofuel use by the US armed forces be successful, it could sink development of the technology for the foreseeable future.

The post US Navy Great Green Fleet trials fire new salvo in battle against climate change appeared first on Climate Home News.

Design is vital. Everyday we use objects and services which have been carefully designed and planned for us, often completely obliviously.

It would be impossible to imagine a more sustainable world which didn’t derive from the way these products and services are designed.

Equally how could transitions to the ‘green economy’, ‘the circular economy’ and ‘low carbon’ lifestyles would not be possible without the work of designers.

This is no one-way street. More and more often, consumers are looking for designers who are using recycled products, ethically sourced materials, or Cradle to Cradle principles.

Each year the New Designers exhibition showcases the best design graduates the UK has to offer – 3,500 of them over nine days.

I visited the designers of the future last week – here are five designs which I think can help shape the world we live in.

James Ward: Pitched Green Roof Tiles

Ward’s design aims to take Green Roofs to the mass market (not green tiles – roofs with plants on the top). Two main features make the design different from the traditional Green Roofs we have started see pop up over cities.

Firstly it uses carpet fibre as an alternative to soil – helping to solve the problem of old carpet materials ending up in landfill. Plastic tiles replace slate – and these can be produced out of recycled products.

Secondly the tiles are specifically designed for pitched roofs. Currently ‘Green Roofing’ is only available for flat roofing, but Ward felt this was missing a trick, as the majority of buildings outside of high-rise office buildings have sloping roofs.

The tiles are designed to slot together in a similar way to traditional roofing tiles, making it easy for people to install the roofing themselves, and the grips built into the tile holds the carpet fibres in place.

Green roofs help to serve several purposes including absorbing rainwater (helping to prevent flash flooding), providing insulation, creating a habitat for wildlife and they also help to lower urban air temperatures and mitigate the ‘heat island’ effect.

James says: “Green roofing and turning eco is the way forward. We have got to change our ways, all this gas guzzling is killing the environment. You look at cities and you look at reports and it is full of issues like the Urban Heat Island and water absorption issues.

“Green roofing helps to tackle all of these and it brings wildlife to the environment. It brings benefits to the environment but also people who live in these green roofed houses. It increases their insulation and brings down energy costs.”

Catlyn Adams: ChainGen Peddle Powered Water Pump and Electricity Generator

Using upcycled products (using waste materials and products for a different purpose to which is was built for) including drills, fire alarm batteries and an old bike, Catlyn Adams’ design aims to encourage the use of bikes in the developing world, while also aiming to provide solutions to problems such as access to water and electricity.

The basic frame is made of bamboo, although could be made of any material which is in constant supply for a particular community, providing the multi-purpose structure. The structure is the used to hook up a makeshift electricity generator and water pump – created from old drills and other upcycled products.

The structure also gives support to the bike, allowing it to be used as a wheelbarrow to carry water and agricultural products across land. The design is part of a wider social enterprise concept created by Adams, offering workshops and aiming to create products which will benefit and be tailored to local needs.

Catlyn says: “It is about trying to encourage the use of bikes in developing countries and encouraging human power rather than diesel power. Some areas can not use bikes all year round – because of punctured tyres, bad roads or maybe the rainy season makes the roads too muddy. It is about encouraging them not only to use bikes as transport but as these machines or as wheel barrows and different things like that.

“It is also about trying to encourage co-deign with the community. So the company ChainGEN itself could use a series of workshops – mainly about maintaining bikes – but would also work as a sort of consultant for the local people.”

“A lot of farmers are being tempted to more unsustainable ways because it is cheaper and it is what they know and it is what is accessible.”

Ben Kirkby: Arboform Chair

Created much in the same style as a traditional plastic chair, this design has a twist.

Created using arboform – a bio-material made from lignin, a by-product of the pulp industry and a waste product in paper manufacturing – the chair has very similar properties to one made from polypropylene.

The material is durable and the chairs should be as good as one made from any plastic. However, using a natural material this chair would be recyclable or biodegradable – a major selling point over traditional plastics.

Ben says: “It is obvious really. We are running out of oil so we have got to find new ways of making things.

“A lot of people when they think of green products it is all hippy and organic but why can’t it be like the plastic chair we are used to. That is what has kind of driven the form of this. It is subtly green, it is not shouting out I am a green product – it could very easily be made out of polypropylene – its subtle.”

Hamish Glover-Wilson: PowerFall energy awareness system

Designed for use within offices, the aim of the PowerFall design is to offer the incentives for behavioural changes for employees who do not have the financial incentives they would do at home.

The system monitors the energy consumption in an office and uses a simple and clear sign to help increase awareness among workers.

Small lights can be scattered around any office, turning red or green depending on the energy consumption of particular areas and products – red for bad, green for good.

A more complex and in-depth interface is then available to office managers and employees who are keen to learn more. Glover-Wilson explains how this could then lead to incentive schemes or competitions among staff.

Hamish says: “The idea is that it is a behaviour change and that it stretches further than just in the office and it will bring a more general awareness of the idea when we leave things on it uses electricity. It is a simple message but it is just trying to get that message across to people.”

“I did a lot of research on behavioural change and without the motivation it is very difficult. People aren’t motivated by climate change because it is geographically and in time quite remote. Until people are being affected now they don’t think about it.

“I am not a huge eco-warrior but it just seems a sensible way to act.”

Aston University: Shell Eco-Marathon Car

Winner of the Eco-Design Award at the Shell Eco-Marathon, the Aston University eco-car aims to be the urban car of the future.

Designed to pivot in on itself, making it smaller than a smart car when parked, the design uses cardboard honeycomb and plywood certified by the British Forestry Commission for the body and a bio-resign wing which would be 100 bio-degradable.

The whole structure is collapsible for easy delivery and the car is also equipped with a hydrogen motor.

Dave Hicks from Aston University says: “Sustainability is something what will get more and more important as the years go on, materials will run out and you will need to replace them.”

Charlie James says: “Energy intensive processes like steel work for example. We can’t carry on doing these sorts of processes and using lots of energy to create things that will only last 20 years. With larger population you are going to need something that is less permanent and more temperamental in terms of transport because there are a lot of automobiles just ending up in scrap yards after 20 years.

Related Articles:

– LIVING: Closing the Loop: Designing for a sustainable future 

– TECHNOLOGY: Plans for sustainable Abu Dhabi eco-Mosque get approval 

– LIVING: An introduction to sustainable fashion

The post Carpet tiles, bike powered generators & bio-degradable cars: Five sustainable designs to change your world appeared first on Climate Home News.

We’ve all seen solar panels adorning an increasingly large number of roofs. Not just on homes but offices, factories, railway stations and many others.

But solar power has plenty of other applications beyond lowering electricity bills for the environmentally aware in the developed world.

We look through some of the less obvious, sometimes less useful, applications for the harnessing the sun’s rays.

Make beer

A brewery in Michigan in the US has invested in 300 solar thermal tubes to heat the water it uses in its attached restaurant as well as in the beer making process itself.

Solar powered and poison free. (Source: Flickr/Wystan)

The Arbor Brewing Company has almost halved its demand for gas for water heating making a decent cost saving as well as some delicious liquid bread. Each bottle carries the guarantee that the beer is “pure and without drugs or poison”.

Fly a plane

It may have only completed one flight over a significant distance, and that may have taken 19 hours, but it’s a start.

The jumbo jet sized Solar Impulse craft flew from Madrid to Rabat earlier this year with only its pilot on board.

Whether we’ll get commercial solar planes in the future is anyone’s guess but this at least, is a start.

Power a stadium

Taiwan’s Dragon Stadium (or Kaohsiung National Stadium to give its full name) is remarkable for several reasons as these pictures show.

The “scales” on the spiralled dragon-shaped arena are in fact solar panels providing all of the electricity required to run the stadium

Cook a meal up Mount Everest

Solar cooking works on the same basic principal, reflecting the suns rays to a concentrated point, where a (well-insulated) cooking pot absorbs the heat.

They are increasingly being used in refugee camps and in disaster struck regions, where access to fuel may be restricted. They can also be used in remote wilderness regions, including Mount Everest base camp.

The Himalayas reflected in a solar cooker at Everest base camp. (Source: Flickr/Rick McCharles)

Turn seawater into drinking water

With water scarcity one of the related and amplified consequences of climate change, this solar-powered solution could prove to be very useful in the future.

The technology uses a concentrated solar power (CSP) plant, which generates electricity by focusing the suns rays on a liquid-filled tank to drive a turbine. This electricity is then used for an attached (energy hungry) desalination plant.

Qatar is leading research on these technologies and has pledged to share it with other countries suffering water shortages.

Power a Kenyan village

RTCC has previously looked at what off-grid, small scale solar energy can do rural communities in Africa. A number of schemes, such as Eight19’s pay as you go system can improve health (by cutting out the need for indoor kerosene burning) and save residents money.

Mark Kragh from KnowYourPlanet, is working to help communities make money from going solar by establishing cottage industries that produce and sell small-scale residential panels.

The finished article after Mark Kragh's workshop in Kenya.

Save lives

An estimated 1.5 billion people have no access to electricity. This reduces quality of life at home, but it also impacts access to education, communication, banking and health care.

This super-efficient solar powered fridge can keep vaccines and other medicines cool for ten days between charges and in any location, freeing access to health care from the confines of electricity grids and the cost of diesel generators.

Power a space station

The solar-powered International Space Station. (Source: Flickr/FlyingSinger)

Perhaps the most widely accepted use of solar panels, particularly with the traditional opponents of renewable energy, is the space industry.

Solar panels have for a long time kept satellites running for decades without any physical refuelling required. The guaranteed sunshine afforded by being 36000km above the surface of the Earth and the absence of any meaningful gravity overcome many of the obstacles faced by traditional aviation.

Mow your lawn (no pushing required)

Not quite as life-changing as some of our other entries, this automatic solar powered lawn mower is if nothing else, an innovative bit of fun that shows the breadth of solutions open to solar technology.

On the downside, it is estimated to cost $5000.

Power a festival

More and more smaller cultural events are going 100% solar-powered while the big events do all they can to chip away at their environmental footprint.

Glastonbury’s Michael Eavis has installed 1100 solar panels at the famous farm and festival venue but even they are a drop in the ocean for the event’s monster 15MW power consumption.

Glastonbury owner Michael Eavis with his 1100 solar panels. (Source: GlastonburyFestivals.co.uk)

Can you think of any fun, unusual or enterprising uses for solar energy? Share them with us on twitter or on our Facebook page.

The post Ten things you can do with solar power appeared first on Climate Home News.

A new report has found that one in four business leaders have either implemented alternative transport fuel policies or are actively pursuing them.

Companies are increasingly turning to alternative fuel vehicles despite sluggish consumer demand. (Source: Deutsche Post DHL)

The study by consultancy firm Grant Thornton revealed that high oil prices and other associated costs as well as environmental benefits were boosting the uptake of natural gas, electric, hybrid and biofuel powered vehicles.

Transportation is responsible for around a quarter of global CO2 emissions.

“With the United States and the EU pressing ahead with sanctions against Iran, the world’s fourth largest oil producer, it seems unlikely that prices at the pumps will ease significantly in the near future,” said Daniel Taylor, partner & head of automotive at Grant Thornton UK.

“Many dynamic businesses are therefore looking to determine whether switching their fleets to alternative fuels could offer cost savings, allowing them to free up resources that could be better employed in efforts to expand their operations,” said Taylor.

“And of course, switching to ‘greener’ fuels also boosts their environmental credentials.”

While alternative fuel vehicles are struggling to gain traction among the public, the report suggests demand from the private sector could be much stronger.

In March 2011, Deutsche Post DHL rolled out a fleet of 30 electric and 50 hybrid delivery trucks to serve Manhattan, New York.

“The results suggest a bright future for the alternative fuel vehicle industry provided it can produce vehicles which compete with existing ranges in terms of quality, driving experience and critically price, whilst offering cost savings in terms of refuelling.”

The post Businesses abandon transport fossil fuels in search of “green fleets” appeared first on Climate Home News.

Every other morning I catch the tube in London.

If I arrive between 7-7.45 the station is half empty. Fifteen minutes later and it is packed.

By 8am the platforms are usually five deep and the trains – when they arrive – groan with the weight of passengers they are already embracing.

Once or twice a month the gates are closed to allow platforms to clear – such is the tidal wave of humanity wanting to travel to central London.

A similar picture emerges across the world – and it comes down to one word: Flow.

It’s a subject DHL’s Global Programme Director Martin Brown  enjoys talking about. For him cities are all about flow.

Flow of people, cars, freight, air, water and energy. And in our own way we dictate it all.

Martin Brown ICLEI 2 from Responding to Climate Change on Vimeo.

But if we could control the flow, if we could manage it more efficiently, then in theory the streets would be clearer, the trains emptier, energy could cost less and our lives could be better.

Three out of five people are expected to live in cities by 2030. That’s 180,000 extra per day, 1 million per week, 60 million per year.

Some cities like Nigeria’s capital Abuja are estimated to have grown by 140% in the last decade. Others like Beijing are having to contend with 1000 extra cars per day.

But while cities grow, their infrastructure often struggles to cope – leaving even advanced metropolis’ like London relying on antiquated Victorian sewers and transport systems built for a far smaller population than the one they currently serve.

For some the answer lies in new roads, railways and tunnels. Brown unsurprisingly prefers to view it from a logistical point of view – returning to the concept of managing the flow.

“The logistic service providers are almost like sub-atomic particles who are fizzing away and working frenetically to deliver on a minute-by-minute basis,” he says.

“Where there is a role that has yet to be fully realised, is the ability to harness all this activity and to create – to continue the metaphor – fusion, by coordinating these atoms and getting them facing in the right direction to respond to the city’s challenges today and the context of the city as it transforms.”

DHL’s concept is to coordinate and offer a ‘command and control’ framework through which smaller providers can operate. Brown gives the example of a café he was recently in – that said it had five or six small deliveries per day.

In theory, if you could cut that down to one or two – the retailer could save money, congestion would decrease, as would emissions.

Brown explains that DHL want to take their logistical skills and ‘apply them in a new dynamic marketplace’. Working on similar lines to major supermarkets, they would operate hubs from which smaller low-emission vehicles would operate.

The approach does raise questions.

Would a city want one company to control all of its logistics? Could such a monopoly drive existing smaller suppliers out of business? How could business ensure this ‘command and control’ model was not another extension of ‘big brother’ and excessive top-down regulation?

Brown insists they would seek to work with local service providers – arguing that the target is ‘light goods freight movement’ which often coincides with the busiest times of the day.

Demand for action

Consumers are to an extent dictating these changes. Both Tesco and H&M have told us how their move to clean up their act was in a large part driven by their customers.

Deloitte’s 2012 ‘Connecting the Dots’ report argues that business has to change now in order to maintain market share.

‘Increasing numbers of companies are recognising that sustainability can be a primary driver for strategic product and business model innovation’, adding that: ‘increasing numbers of consumers will require explicit reassurance that what they buy will be good for the planet’.

DHL are confident in their ability to deliver. Brown says the usual light freight vehicle is 40-45% full – which could be increased to 90% with more coordination.

Transport and logistics already contribute an estimated 13% of global emissions – a figure that is rising year on year.

DHL’s concept of central freight points will not be popular with many retailers or libertarians – but it does open possibilities.

Peaks of energy use, traffic and other resources have often been taken as part of human nature – elements we have to work around.

Congestion charges (London) and number plate quotas (Mexico City) are well-known measures that have not had a significant impact on freight numbers.

Thinking about when we move and using that capacity more efficiently needs to be explored in more depth. DHL have made a start – others should follow.

Have your say: If you know of an effective scheme that we haven’t mentioned get in touch via @RTCCnewswire or ek@rtcc.org

The post Go with the flow: DHL unveil new freight strategy appeared first on Climate Home News.

The EU will not abandon biofuels a spokesperson has said. (Source: Wikimedia/Alaz)

The EU will stand by its commitment to biofuels despite criticism from an NGO that that growing crops for fuel raises food prices and displaces local communities.

A report by ActionAid released on Wednesday (25 April) claimed that Europe should drop its target of sourcing 10% of its transport fuels from renewable sources by 2020.

“If it continues to ignore the impacts of its biofuels policy on people living in some of the poorest parts of the planet, the EU will effectively be sponsoring hunger and human rights abuses on a massive scale,” said Laura Sullivan, ActionAid’s Head of European Advocacy.

“Instead of pumping money into this fool’s gold, the EU needs to drop its targets and subsidies, and invest the money in truly sustainable alternatives, that support local farmers to produce food not fuel,” she added.

But in a statement sent to RTCC, an EU Commission spokesperson said they remained committed to the energy source.

“The EU Commission will not abandon the EU renewables policy and continues to believe that biofuels can make a positive contribution toward the EU’s climate and energy objectives if all issues, including indirect land use change impacts, are properly addressed,” said the spokesperson.

There is currently an evaluation underway at the Commission on the effects of changing land use on the carbon emissions associated with biofuels.

“The Commission is currently finalising its impact assessment [on land use] and will, if appropriate, present legislative proposals for amending the existing EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED) and the Fuel Quality Directive (FQD).”

The spokesperson also reiterated that neither of these EU targets were specifically for biofuel.

The FQD is targeting a 6% cut in greenhouse gas emissions from road transport fuels.

The RED goal is to source 10% of EU transport energy demand from renewable sources. Although this does not exclusively mean biofuels, ActionAid claims that 88% of this renewable transport energy will be from manufactured biofuels.

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Environmental issues should be woven into every facet of life in the Capital, says Independent Mayoral Candidate Siobhan Benita.

Aimed at running green policies throughout her manifesto and bringing issues from across the board together into one package, she says she hopes voters will like her approach to policies.

The London Mayoral Elections will be held on May 3 this year. The Mayor controls a budget of £14 Billion – and the effects of climate change are expected to be increasingly felt in Britain’s capital, in part due to its low level and susceptibility to flooding.

“I am doing this not just on the green issue but the way I package my policies in general”, Benita told RTCC.

“It is more about keeping London moving; better, cleaner, safer neighbourhoods. I am trying to do that rather than put everything into boxes of transport or the environment.”

VIDEO: Siobhan Benita talks about her plans for the Thames, making cycling in London safer and what to do with unused buildings…

Making London safe for cyclists

Earlier this year, a new campaign by The Times newspaper, brought cycling in the city back into the headlines.

Since its launch figures including cyclist Mark Cavendish, Lord Sugar and cricketer Freddie Flintoff have got behind the campaign, along with all the candidates for the Mayoral Elections.

For Benita making the city safer for cyclists is about being flexible and a little creative.

“London is quite a crowded city so I don’t think we are ever going to bring in the model you find in Holland and places like that, we just don’t have the physical space to do it.”

“Other cities have used more creative shared space ideas, for example sometimes you can give over a whole pavement, where you have two pavements, to cyclists or rollerbladers. It is a different sharing of space and I think that is what we need. We can take loads of good ideas and best practice from other cities in this area.”

For example, New York uses a three tiered approach – where possible bikes are completely separated from traffic via greenways through parks, in more crowded spaces, they are separated with concrete barriers and finally where this is not possible they are separated through white lines.

“I think the approach here has been to try to do it one way or not at all and then we end up with a system that doesn’t really work for anyone,” says Benita.

Airport expansion

Cycling is not the only area of transport Benita’s manifesto focuses on. As well as cheaper travel for students and those on minimum wage, free travel for those seeking employment, and later travel allowing greater access throughout the night, Benita aims to add her voice to the growing debate over airport expansion.

While objecting to the current plans for a new airport within the Thames Estuary – named Boris Island by many after London Mayor and proponent of the scheme, Boris Johnson – Benita does argue that airport expansion will still be necessary for the capital.

“Even if it proved feasible it [Boris Island] is going to take at least 20 to 30 years to build and environmentally it would be hugely damaging to build a whole new airport on a green site like that.”

“I don’t think we can say we don’t need any more airport capacity. I have looked at the evidence and think that the least environmentally damaging option is to go with a third runway at Heathrow.”

One of the more controversial proposals for the capital, plans for a new runway at Heathrow airport were scrapped in 2010, when the coalition government came to power, a move welcomed by environmental groups.

The debate did not end there though, as earlier this month industry lobbyists stepped up attempts to get the third runway back on the agenda.

Benita says expansion of Heathrow would help ensure West London continued to thrive.

“We have invested in East London a lot recently. We now need to invest in West London and actually if we go down the route of another airport, eventually the economy in West London will die out.”

Better use of buildings

With a shortage of affordable housing in the Capital, Benita says if elected, she will not only push for the building of 32,000 new homes, but also target derelict buildings which can be turned into affordable housing.

Acknowledging the difficulty of working with older buildings when it comes to ensuring energy efficiency, she believes this is one area where the Mayor can be really hands on.

“I would much rather be using the old buildings that we have but you need to make sure as you do it you bring them right up to current standards,” she explained. “What the Mayor should be doing is looking at regulations that currently exist because some of the regulations at the moment conflict with one another.

“If you are dealing with replacing some like for like features in buildings, they don’t always meet the latest energy requirements and I think wherever we can the energy efficiency requirements should trump everything else.”

She also says she wants to see buildings left empty overnight or at weekends put to better use.

“There are government public buildings all over London that when it comes 5.30 go unused…I would like all boroughs to do an audit of the space available and give as much of that over to the charities and organisations in their borough either at a really reduced rate or ideally wherever possible for free.”

London’s Young Mayor

One of Benita’s biggest aims for her campaign is introducing a youth voice into the city’s politics. If elected she aims to hire a Young Mayor for the city – to look at not only youth issues, but every aspect of London life from education to transport to the environment.

“Whoever becomes Mayor they are building the future for that generation so if you don’t engage those people in a whole range of policies you are not going to get it right for that generation.

“I would want the Young Mayor to be working on all policy areas so transport, environment, housing not just tuning to them when it is a youth issue.”

Contact the author on ts@rtcc.org or @rtcc_tierney.

For more on what the candidates for the London elections have planned for the Capital, check out RTCC’s London series including Boris Johnson, Ken Livingstone, Brian Paddick and Jenny Jones.

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Ken Livingstone says he will take on the major energy providers and set up a London-wide energy co-op. (Source:Flickr/Roystonford)

As part of RTCC’s London Week, the leading candidates in the city’s Mayoral election have explained to us how they would cut emissions and make London a greener place to live.

Yesterday we heard from the Green Party’s Jenny Jones. On Thursday, the incumbent, Boris Johnson will explain why his green policies are working and what else he has planned for the city.

Today Labour’s Ken Livingstone explains how taking on the big six energy providers, cutting public transport fares and tackling energy efficiency can create a low-cost, low-carbon London.

While people are struggling with recession the Mayor’s priority has been to help reduce Londoners’ cost of living by raising their transport fares. That’s on top of his party nationally raising the cost of living through cuts and higher charges.

But my goal is also to help Londoners’ living standards to rise, while the amount of the earth’s resources we consume falls to sustainable levels.

Road transport is the fastest growing source of carbon emissions. To reverse this we have to encourage people out of their car and onto public transport, cycling or walking.

When I was Mayor previously London became the only major city in the world to achieve this. But Boris’ Johnson’s fares rises threaten future progress.

I will cut public transport fares by 7% this year and freeze them throughout 2013. Oyster single bus fares will be reduced from £1.35 to £1.20. From 2014 fares will not rise above inflation.

The costs will be met from the huge operating surplus Boris Johnson creates every year – the unplanned higher revenues caused by raising the fares year on year. Last year’s unplanned operating surplus was a staggering £700m.

Compared with Boris Johnson’s threat to keep raising fares by 2% above inflation each year, the average London public fare-payer will be £1,000 better off at the end of my four-year mayoral term.

Tackling energy efficiency

A third of all the energy consumed in London is used to provide gas and electricity to households.

Under Boris Johnson’s part-time leadership, London has lost out on £400m of national energy efficiency funding. I will call an immediate Energy Summit of the main energy suppliers to ensure that London get its fair share of the £1.3bn per year energy companies are required to spend on home insulation from 2013.

With this funding we could provide free loft and wall insulation to 400,000 homes, more than eight times the number Mayor Johnson has managed in four years with his RE:NEW scheme. On average, a household that installs proper insulation will save £150 off their heating and electricity bills.

London Energy Co-op

By harnessing the buying power of Transport for London (the biggest purchaser of electricity in London) and the rest of the Greater London Authority group of organisations, my new London Energy Co-operative will purchase energy on the wholesale markets, giving Londoners a cheaper alternative to rip-off energy suppliers. It will source as much of its energy as possible from low carbon sources, including investing in new renewable energy itself.

My commitment to cutting Londoners’ cost of living whilst making London a low-carbon city is embodied in these three policies – cut fares, increase insulation, and provide cheaper, lower-carbon home energy. We will announce others as the campaign progresses.

It may have been possible to be pleased when Boris Johnson renounced his earlier encouragement to George W. Bush to screw up the Kyoto climate treaty, and adopted my carbon targets. But he hasn’t delivered.

His big plan for a new hub airport on a wildlife site in the Thames Estuary sums up the Tory Mayor’s approach.

I will take personal charge of the drive to cut emissions because I genuinely believe tackling climate change is the duty of every elected person.

VIDEO: Ken Livingstone’s speech to the 2011 Labour Party Conference

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A container ship passes through the Panama canal. Shipping accounts for 3% of the world's emissions. (Source: Flickr/jpmartineau)

The UN’s maritime body and the EU look set to clash over CO2 emissions from shipping after the latest internal talks ended in a stalemate.

The week long meeting of International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) Marine Environment Protection Committee made little progress and further discussions will now be delayed until October this year.

The EU, which has already begun tallying CO2 emissions for all flights into or out of its airports, is keen to establish a similar framework for international shipping.

The IMO insists that the best way to progress is through an all-encompassing global deal.

“Let us work together and set ourselves the challenge of completing all of the work on the establishment of a market-based measure by a target year of 2015,” said Koji Sekimizu, IMO Secretary-General at the start of the talks.

Shipping is responsible for 3% of all the world’s greenhouse gases. The 15 biggest ships in the world emit as much sulphur oxides as 760 million cars.

The IMO is currently assessing nine different market-based mechanisms to address emissions at sea and hope to have an impact assessment study prepared by 2013.

The EU however, is unhappy with this timetable.

“While we have a clear preference for global action on measures to reduce emissions from shipping, we don’t see the IMO on track to deliver reductions consistent with the globally accepted maximum 2°C objective [to prevent dangerous warming],” a European Commission spokesperson told Reuters.

The EU’s decision to establish an aviation carbon emissions scheme for airlines has been met with stiff opposition and labelled as “unilateralism”.

However, the EU argues that the scale of the carbon tax is small.

An independent study found that the surcharges applied by some carriers to cover the costs of the carbon tax will generate additional profits for the companies involved.

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The Thames Hub project would cost an estimated £50 billion (Source: Foster and Partners)

The £50bn plan to build a new transport hub in the Thames estuary moved a step closer today with the project set to be included in the formal aviation consultation process this spring.

The project, commonly referred to as “Boris Island” after its vocal supporter, London Mayor Boris Johnson, was announced in November last year.

It would include a new international airport, freight rail links between ports and major cities and a new tunnel under the River Thames that would also incorporate tidal power generation.

UK Transport Secretary Justine Greening is set to publish the government’s aviation strategy later this year and speculation is growing that the new Thames hub is preferred to the expansion of existing airports.

The government has already said it will not add an additional runway at Heathrow, the country’s largest existing airport.

“If we are to establish a modern transport and energy infrastructure in Britain for this century and beyond, we need to recapture the foresight and political courage of our 19th century forebears and draw on our traditions of engineering, design and landscape,” said Lord Foster, the architect behind the proposals during the launch of the plans.

The Thames hub project has been criticised by green groups concerned both with local impacts and its role in the Government’s wider climate change strategy.

“Any development of this type, on this scale in the Thames Estuary would be an irreversible act of vandalism on a grand scale,” said Chris Corrigan, RSPB director for South East England. “We should be investing in our environment and tackling climate change, building foundations which future generations will thank us for.”

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Today is officially the most depressing day of the year. It is January, it is cold, we are all feeling the pinch after Christmas and our next break from work seems like a million years away.

But don’t let those January blues get you down, and don’t give into the temptation to book a flight around the world – it is also the day most people book flights somewhere warm and exotic.

This month is also National Thank You month, and RTCC brings you five things to be thankful for when it comes to climate change and sustainability.

1) Investment in renewables is on the up

We may be going through a financial crisis and it may feel as if the environmental agenda has dropped off many people’s radar but last year saw global investment in clean energy reach a new high of $260 billion, according to data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

The new figures show a 5% rise on 2010 and are nearly five times bigger than in 2004.

Investment in solar far outstripped that in wind, and US clean energy investment moved back ahead of China for the first time since 2008.

2) On your bike!

With the Olympics just around the corner 2012 could be the year to get employees to adopt more sustainable travel behaviours, according to Trewin Restorick, founder and CEO of Global Action Plan.

Writing for the Guardian, Restorick said the games could provide a great opportunity if companies began looking at a more long-term strategic approach. With around 5.3 million visitors expected throughout the 100 days of the games, and the busiest days seeing 855,000 games-related trips, disruption of travel for Londoners could see them make the move to more eco-friendly transport – getting on their bikes or going on foot.

More than 4,000 new cycle-hire docking point are set to be installed and 2,000 more bikes provided, while many companies are looking into more flexible working hours, fewer client meetings, and greater use of video conferencing.

But can this be used to encourage more long-term behaviour change?

Restorick says it can. But only if companies mobilise and make it happen.

3) Even more renewables

Sticking with renewables but this time in the developing world, today saw the launch of a new sustainability energy fund which aims to roll out 4,000 pay-as-you-go solar energy systems to rural, off grid communities in East Africa.

The solar package consists of a low-cost solar panel, a battery unit with inbuilt mobile phone charger and a high efficiency LED lamp, and is aimed at making energy affordable. A great start to the UN’s Year of Sustainable Energy for All!

4) Explorer Mark Wood hits his half way mark!

Wood set off in November on the first leg of his journey which will see him travel solo to both the South Pole and the North Pole. Reaching the South Pole last week he marked the mid-way point on his expedition.

Not only is he completing the expedition to highlight the changing nature of these icy regions but he has also helped save nearly 25,000 kg of CO₂ through the Do Nation’s sponsorship.

Over 100 people have now sponsored Wood by doing actions including stopping using plastic bags, eating less meat or making draft excluders, saving the equivalent of driving from London to Edinburgh 100 times.

5) Georgio Armani goes sustainable

It may only have been for one night, but Livia Firth’s dress worn down the Red Carpet at the Golden Globe Awards, designed and made by Armani was created from a weave made from recycled plastic bottles.

It was part of Firth’s Green Carpet Challenge thought up three years ago as a way to expand the use of sustainable and ethical creations on Hollywood’s red carpet and highlight the need for the fashion industry to move towards more sustainable designs.

And this year it is expected to be bigger than ever, as she aims at getting more actresses and more designers in on the challenge. Keep watching throughout awards season for more great designs.

And this year it is expected to be bigger than ever, as she aims at getting more actresses and more designers in on the challenge. Keep watching throughout awards season for more great designs.

Contact the author at ts@rtcc.org or @rtcc_tierney.

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One designer aims to provide an innovative solution to the growing problem of access to water in the developing world, with a new brand of motorcycle.

Approximately 1.2 billion people, that’s one in six, currently live without access to clean water, a figure set to rise to over 5 billion by 2025.

Around 42 thousand people die every week from water borne diseases.

Water supplies in the developing world, are often located far from town and villages, and with the impacts of climate change hitting many of these communities, whatever water supply they do have is often disrupted leaving them to travel even further distances.

This is turn has a huge social and economic impact on communities and vulnerable groups – women and children – are most at risk, not only from dirty water use, but the process of collecting the water.

It is often left to women and children to make arduous journeys to collect water, risking injury and attacks, as well as missing school and work.

Fernando Ocana, now lead-designer at Electric Car Company Think, used the Honda sponsored designing “mobility for the masses” project to take a look at this group and create a design which could go some way to improving the situation, as well as raising awareness.

The Honda 1+ motorcycle design was inspired by the simplicity of the bicycle and aims at producing an ‘easy to produce’ and ‘easy to maintain’ transport tool.

“The formal design is inspired by the creative usage of what is available at hand, a common approach for the developing-world scenario,” Ocana told RTCC. “As the jerrycan is the standard water container, the idea was to design the vehicle around its already-established shape.”

“The use of rough plastic and the overall simplicity of the vehicle is inspired by low-cost, long-lasting and low-weight products that contrast the short lifecycles of first world products.”

The design works around the need for it hold the water containers – which can be removed and replaced as users fill up their jerrycan.

The wheels are made of rubber to absorb any shocks and impacts, acting as the motorcycle’s suspension system.

They are designed without tyres and can be wrapped with left over materials such as old tires, leather or fabric – whatever a user has to hand.

The wheels also contain the battery and engine which has been designed to meet the renewable energy capacity in the developing world.

“The idea for the in-wheel electric engine and batteries came as an attempt to match the intensive developments in solar and wind power that are taking part through developing regions such as central Africa,” said Ocana.

“While I do not pretend this vehicle will solve the issues on its own (well drilling should be at the top of our priorities) its ambition is to improve someone’s life and thus increase his or her chances to become a proactive member of his or her society,” he added.

Ocana, a Mexican designer, developed the concept while a student at the Royal College of Art in London.

Other Momentum for Change week articles:

• UNFCCC chief Christiana Figueres: We need action not words

• 100 Solar power stations in two weeks: One London man’s dream

• Liter of Light: How 1 bottle = solar bulbs for millions of homes

• Arial 10 or 11? Change your font size and save a forest!

VIDEO: Check out this video explaining more about the project and the concept behind the Honda 1+ deisgn:

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Cars on UK roads are getting greener but the country is not yet ready to dump the pump (Source: Wikimedia/Rama)

The cars on Britain’s roads became cleaner and greener in 2011 but electric cars struggled to find traction, according to the latest figures released by an industry body today.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) report states that the average new car registered in 2011 had a CO2 emissions rating of 138.1 g/km, down 4.2% on the previous year. The same figure in 2000 was 181 g/km.

The total number of electric cars on the road reached 1082, a modest figure but an increase of 684% compared to 2010. The number of hybrid cars reached 23,370, up 5.6% on the previous year.

Paul Everitt, CEO, SMMT said that car purchases had been affected by the current economic condition but that improved fuel efficiency was one factor likely to encourage people to buy a new car.

Electric cars in the UK are eligible for a government grant of £5000 but take-up is yet to boom as consumers wait for the cost of vehicles to reduce and the expansion of the charging bay network.

The Nissan Leaf all-electric car will be mass-produced at six locations including the company’s UK factory in Sunderland, which is expected to start making the Leaf in 2013.

It is expected that the cost of electric vehicles will drop as manufacturers ramp-up production.

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: UK athletes Jessica Ennis and Stef Reid take on an expert eco-driver at a test track and discover they could save over £1100 a year!

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Fallen trees on the line near Markinch, Scotland. The storm caused major disruption to transport networks. (Source: Network Rail Scotland)

The resilience of UK infrastructure was severely tested on Tuesday as storms battered the north and west of the country.

Winds reached more than 90 mph in some areas with transport and electricity supplies affected.

The UK is expected to experience an increase in the number of extreme weather events including an increased level of storminess as a result of climate change.

The rail network was severely disrupted with fallen trees and other debris blocking routes. Some of the blockages were to large to be cleared by maintenance crews who were forced to wait for specialist cranes to be brought in.

Several road bridges were closed due to the danger of crosswinds. Airports were also affected with severe disruption reported at Glasgow airport and widespread delays affecting most flights across the country.

More than 70,000 homes were reported to be without power in Scotland as a result of the storm. The BBC reported that a further 8500  were powerless in England and a further 10,000 in Northern Ireland.

The UK Climate Change Act 2008 requires major utility and transport firms to report on their adaptation plans for the increase in extreme weather events experienced in the country and longer term effects of climate change such as coastal erosion.

Network Rail, one of the companies required to report, owns and operates UK railways and major stations, has already begun work on adaptation. Diane Booth, the firm’s head of environment policy recently told RTCC about some of the areas it is concentrating on.

“The environment effects our operations already and we sort of know where we have hotspots. We tend to build our response to them around the fact we know they’re hotspots,” said Booth.

“We have areas of the network that flood in high rainfall and others where the operations are right on the seawall itself.”

The UK is not alone in experiencing an increase in potentially climate related disasters.

The US suffered 12 individuals disasters in 2011 that caused more than $1billion each.

RTCC VIDEO EXCLUSIVE

While severe storms can seriously disrupt a developed nation, many developing countries are dealing with far greater problems. Dr Saleemul Huq of the IIED told RTCC about adaptation strategies in Bangladesh, which is faced with major flood events and rising sea levels.

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