by Géraldine Kutas | Apr 17, 2014 | Sem categoria
It’s good to see that a highly regarded institution, like the United Nations, has just released a new report that has the courage to simply follow the empirical evidence about the benefits of responsibly produced biofuels. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate...
by Géraldine Kutas | Apr 4, 2014 | Sem categoria
This week the United Nations scientific panel on climate change (IPCC) published its latest report on climate change. The report, echoing its past findings about a clear link between climate change and human factors driving that change, argues that immediate action is...
by Géraldine Kutas | Mar 19, 2014 | Sem categoria
Later this week, European heads of government will meet in Brussels to discuss, among other issues, the European Union’s 2030 Climate and Energy Package which – as I mentioned in my previous blog – effectively called for an end to the Fuel Quality Directive after 2020...
by Géraldine Kutas | Feb 21, 2014 | Sem categoria
The annual EU-Brazil summit will take place next week here in the European Union capital, Brussels. There will be plenty of bonhomie as these summits go. We can reasonably expect trade to be one of the most important items of the political agenda, alongside other...
by Géraldine Kutas | Jan 22, 2014 | Sem categoria
Apparently, the current European Commission’s long term strategy is now formally not to have one. On Wednesday, this Commission formally mapped out, in the first step in a long legislative process ahead, its much awaited perspective on what it thinks the European...
by Géraldine Kutas | Jan 16, 2014 | Sem categoria
With the European Commission days away from releasing its policy proposal on so-called 2030 climate and energy targets, it’s worth taking stock of how this position will negatively impact the decarbonization of the transport sector and how once again this Commission...
by Géraldine Kutas | Dec 12, 2013 | Sem categoria
EU Member States on Thursday confirmed what many European biofuel watchers had assumed for many weeks: the issue of biofuels and their potential indirect effects (so-called Indirect Land Use Change) won’t be addressed until the next European Parliament and the next...
by Géraldine Kutas | Dec 10, 2013 | Sem categoria
Ahead of the adoption of the Political Agreement on the ILUC dossier in the Energy Council on 12 December 2013, a group of NGOs put out a briefing on the biofuels policy review and on the three main issues in the debate: the cap for land-based biofuels, the weakening...
by Géraldine Kutas | Nov 29, 2013 | Sem categoria
A couple of new reports released this month in Brussels carry a similar message: Sustainable biofuels, like sugarcane-based ethanol from Brazil, will need to play a significant role if the decarbonization of European transport is going to happen longer term. There’s...
by Géraldine Kutas | Nov 8, 2013 | Sem categoria
As an indication of how the European Union biofuels dossier remains stuck in a holding pattern, the European Parliament’s Energy Committee has canceled a planned vote on whether to give the EU’s Parliament Rapporteur a mandate to hold negotiations (so-called...
by Géraldine Kutas | Oct 17, 2013 | Sem categoria
The United Nations’ Committee on World Food Security (CFS) met last week in Rome and, not surprisingly, biofuels were again at the centre of a hot debate. Governments, industry, civil society and academics all represented at the meeting could agree on an overall mild...
by Géraldine Kutas | Oct 3, 2013 | Sem categoria
Ecofys, a well-respected Dutch consultancy, is out with a new study that effectively eviscerates the association of biofuels with “land grabbing,” that favorite charged-phrase NGOs pedal that industry is in the business of pushing locals off their land. The meaty...
by Géraldine Kutas | Sep 12, 2013 | Sem categoria
A mixed bag from Wednesday’s full European Parliament vote on biofuels and that issue of indirect land use change, ILUC, after months of debate in the parliament. The bad news is that the EP, as expected, voted to approve a cap on first generation biofuels, although...
by Géraldine Kutas | Sep 9, 2013 | Sem categoria
Another interesting report out last week on biofuels. This one is entitled, “Biofuels play minor role in local food prices,” and was produced by Ecofys, a Dutch consulting firm that does work regularly for the European Commission and sometimes for NGOs and the...
by Géraldine Kutas | Jun 19, 2012 | Sem categoria
The day we have all been waiting for has come. Over the last few months, governments have been working on a document that needs signatures of more than 130 international leaders coming to Rio from all over the world. Keeping in line with the level of ambition...
