Sustainability reports usually have long chapters on the environmental and economic aspects, but struggle to address the social dimension. Therefore, I was encouraged to read yesterday’s press release that the ‘Commission promotes the social dimension of the Energy Community’.
Stop here for the moment, and consider what defines the social dimension.

Recent cases of insufficient safety of products on the market created turmoil on the ability of the European regulation framework to protect citizens from shortcomings in products. This inevitably goes along with calls for improvements and proposals for measures to achieve that. We strongly believe that better market surveillance is the best way to move [...]

With order books nearly full and a record growth of 6.6% in 2006 to reach €1779 billion, the EU’s engineering industry which uses some two thirds of the steel produced in Europe is inevitably having, in the face of an undersupplied EU market, to resort to imports. While imports in terms of percentages are rising, [...]

The German Chancellor’s meeting with the Dalai Lama caused strong negative reactions in Beijing. Why did Merkel hold this meeting? What does it mean for Sino-German relations?
The meeting can now be viewed with the warm reception in Washington of the Dalai Lama this week when President Bush presented hm with the Congressional Gold Medal.
On Sunday [...]

Senators Joe Lieberman (Independent) and John Warner (Republican) presented a new initiative to tackle global warming on 18 October. The new proposal (”America’s Climate Security Act”) got the support of several senators from both main parties and some environmental think tanks. The proposed bill introduces a mandatory cap-and-trade system similar to the EU’s emission trading [...]

In a recent post, I questioned the rationale of starting from national greenhouse gas emission figures in international climate change negotiations. The reason for my scepticism is, of course, the fact that in a globalised trade-centered world, CO2 emissions from one country can be caused by export demands from other countries.
The UK’s Tyndall  Centre for [...]

Technorati Tags: renewables
By 2025, the United States should produce 25% of its energy needs from renewable sources according to a non-binding resolution adopted in the US House of Representatives on 15 October. The “25 by 25″ resolution is the result of a big lobbying campaign by a coalition consisting of more than 600 agricultural, energy, and environmental [...]

European leaders will meet in Lisbon today and tomorrow to try and agree on a new EU Reform Treaty which is supposed to give the Union instruments to operate more efficiently after its big enlargement from 15 to 27 members (see International Herald Tribune and the Times). Since the two “No” referenda in 2005 on a [...]

Just testing a bit the platform.
Check out my other blog at http://www.brusselsmedia.eu

I expected to see Sweden get high marks for its treatment and policies related to immigrants. Especially in a year where there has been alot of information published on how they are doing such a good job with welcoming Iraqi immigrants in particular.
But as a Portuguese citizen, not to mention a global citizen, I was [...]

At a dinner debate organised by Friends of Europe and General Motors Europe on 16 October, EU Commission official Paul Hodson reacted to the Doornbosch-Steenblik report published for the Round Table on Sustainable Development of the OECD (the report is NOT an officially endorsed OECD document BTW).
In their study “Biofuels, is the cure worse […]

Some of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s public utterances understandably worry Beijing. What will be the changes in Sino-French relations as result of Sarkozy succeeding the Sinophile, Jacques Chirac?
Concern is expressed about Sarkozy’s pro-American policy and greater pragmatism in his attitude towards China. Sarkozy’s absolute priority is domestic reform and everything he says and does [...]

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One of the great things about claiming to be a China expert is that no-one will categorically refute what you say.
China is the source of many contradictory and confusing conclusions. The western media report that either China is on the verge of imminent collapse or on the brink of economic and political dominance.
China is [...]

It was to be expected that some of the usual climate change deniers would be pretty upset when Al Gore and the IPCC scientists were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. My price for the most grotesque reaction goes to the Competitive Enterprise Institute which accused Gore of creating “global instability and political strife, [...]

Conversion of arable land to produce biofuels should be forbidden for five years, until science has made enough progress to create “second-generation” biofuels. This is the recommendation of a UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. See Swissinfo for more on this story. Science Magazine Nature also has an editorial questioning corn-based biofuels (”Kill king [...]

this is the beginning of an unknown journey for me.  i hope that you find i have something worthwhile to say and that you will bear with me until I professionalise my blogging.
stanley crossick

In a joint press conference on 10 October, EU Commission Vice-President Verheugen and research commissioner Potocnik presented two new initiatives to accelerate research and development of hydrogen cars. A uniform EU-wide market approval system and a new public-private partnership (the “Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Technology Initiative“) with a financial EU contribution of 470 million [...]

The Energy Bulletin ran an excellent blog post on Tuesday which raised my eyebrows. I hope that some of our EU China connaisseurs would react to it.
The post written by David DuByne, who teaches business English in China, states that the Chinese government is preparing to shift from being an export-driven economy to becoming a […]

I have not made up my mind yet which US Presidential candiate I would vote for if I were an American citizen. Of course,  in election campaigns big promises are cheap and therefore it needs quite a bit of analysis what business interest ties the candidates have to be able to predict their real behaviour once [...]