The Global Gender Gap Index annually benchmarks the current state and evolution of gender parity across four key dimensions (Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment). It is the longest-standing index tracking the progress of numerous countries’ efforts towards closing these gaps over time since …
EU politicians backed a compromise on Tuesday that would give carmakers limited leeway in the race to cut CO2 emissions in line with targets while rejecting German calls for more lenient rules. The issue of how strictly to enforce European Union (EU) efficiency rules to reduce fuel use, curb reliance …
The UK increased the share of municipal waste recycling from 12% to 39% between 2001 and 2010, according to a new report. Published by the European Environment Agency (EEA), the report looks at the management of municipal solid waste, mainly consisting of household waste, in 27 EU Member States, Croatia, …
Fewer European countries could face fines for breaching air pollution limits after recession slowed industrial activity and limits on sulfur emissions kicked in. Eight EU states, including France and Germany, are likely to have failed to meet EU emission standards in 2011, down from 12 countries in 2010, according to …
Many nations will fail to meet target of recycling 50% of waste by 2020, warns the European Environment Agency Recycling rates in the UK rose faster in the first decade of the millennium than any other country in Europe, according to official statistics published on Tuesday. Although the UK started …
EU governments failed to agree a ban on three widely used pesticides linked to the decline of honeybees on Friday, but the European Commission could force one through by the summer unless member states agree a compromise. A sharp fall in bee populations around the world, partly due to a …
The felling of natural forest for palm oil plantations has enraged campaigners looking to protect orangutans An all-party scrutiny committee agreed new payments for renewable energy - including palm oil. This commodity is blamed for creating more greenhouse gases than it saves, and for destroying the rainforest habitat of orangutans. …
Germany's transition to renewable energy may cost up to 1 trillion euros ($1.34 trillion) in the next two decades, the environment minister said on Wednesday, piling pressure on his opponents to back plans to cap power price rises before the election. With an eye on the September vote, Peter Altmaier, …
Germany's energy reforms threaten to cost up to 1 trillion euros, though caps on subsidies to renewable power producers and cuts in feed-in tariffs should rein in costs, Energy Minister Peter Altmaier said in an interview. The 'Energiewende' - Germany's shift from nuclear energy towards renewable sources - has led …
German proposals to protect its output of big, luxury cars threaten EU plans to limit carbon emissions by 2020 and could jeopardize future ambitions, a document from the bloc's executive said. Proposals from the German government and German Christian Democrat politician Thomas Ulmer undermine attempts to enforce a 95 grams …
A relative slowdown in new wind turbine construction in China was offset by increases in the US, Germany, India and the UK Wind power expanded by almost 20% in 2012 around the world to reach a new peak of 282 gigawatts (GW) of total installed capacity, while solar power reached …
Germany’s national energy project is becoming a cause for disunion. Like many German regions, northern Saxony around Leipzig is humming with the word Energiewende. Literally “energy turn”, it could also mean “energy revolution”. And that is how Germany sees the twin goals it has set itself: to shut down nuclear …
Past three months saw windfarms produce more electricity than any other source for first time, trade body says Over the last three months wind farms produced more electricity than any other power source in Spain for the first time ever, an industry group has said. The country delivered over six …
German Economy Minister Philipp Roesler has condemned proposals by the environment minister to limit electricity price rises for consumers as "illusory solutions" that were doomed to failure, Der Spiegel weekly reported on Sunday. The withering attack is the latest signal that the plans will fail due to resistance from within …
Afforestation, planting trees in an area where there have previously been no trees, can reduce the effect of climate change by cooling temperate regions, finds a study in BioMed Central's open access journal Carbon Balance and Management. Afforestation would lead to cooler and wetter summers by the end of this …
A German non-governmental organisation formally handed over the control of six earthquake early warning systems to Azad Kashmir’s State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA). Malteser International had installed these costly systems in Ali Akbar Awan Boys High School and Girls High School Madina Market in the municipal area of Muzaffarabad and …
Germany's upper house of parliament passed a resolution on Friday urging Chancellor Angela Merkel's government to tighten the rules for controversial modern drilling techniques, or fracking, for unconventional gas. The resolution piles the pressure on the government to draw up clear rules for the practice, which critics say could increase …
Germany and six other EU nations hold the key to the decision on a rescue plan for the world's biggest carbon market after prices slumped due to record oversupply, three EU officials with knowledge of the matter said. The EU proposal to help emission prices rebound from all- time lows …
Germany's Bayer CropScience blasted a European Commission proposal as "draconian" after Brussels said it wants to suspend all use of neonicotinoids products in crops attractive to bees for two years. A report by European food safety watchdog EFSA linked the use of these pesticides to the declining bee population. The …
The European Commission has proposed that member states restrict the use of certain classes of pesticide that are believed to be harmful to bees. Sprays that use neonicotinoid chemicals should only be used on crops that are not attractive to the insects they said. The sale of seeds treated with …
The European Commission is considering law to ban pesticides linked to the decline of bees, a spokesman said on Friday. A report from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) earlier this month said three widely-used pesticides made by Switzerland's Syngenta and Germany's Bayer posed an acute risk to honeybees. "We …
