Blog entries

Ambitious emissions reductions: greater energy security and a competitive economy for Europe

martaballesteros — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:25:46 +0100

This week, the European Commission published the Staff Working Paper Analysis of options to move beyond 20% greenhouse gas emission reductions: Member State results. The paper provides concrete data showing that an increased push to a 30% emission reduction target by 2020 will deliver financial, health and environmental benefits for member states. It complements the Communication adopted in May 2010 which outlinRead More...

Hooked on sustainable seafood

Sandy Luk — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:42:50 +0100

image: dezz

This week began with some fantastic news as we read in the Guardian about the sharp rise in the sale of sustainable seafood products in the UK throughout 2011. This shows that people really do care about where their food is coming from and what effect that has.

Consumers have the power to help avoid an ecological disaster by choosing to buy sustainably caught or sustainRead More...

Climate change resilience is little comfort without a change in consumption

Feja Lesniewska — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:30:50 +0100

image: Flickr/CIFOR

Forests are key to ensuring that the climate remains stable enough so that life on Earth can continue as we know it. The ability of a forest to hold (or sequester) carbon is one of the key functions it provides globally. This function is undermined by increasing temperatures in tropical forests as well as by forest degradation and deforestation. The Amazon forestRead More...

Are Climate Change Reporters an Endangered Species?

James Thornton — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0100

image: NS Newsflash

This blog originally appeared on Huffington Post on 25 December 2011

Why aren't we seeing more coverage of climate change in the media? The issue is hardly going away. And now that world governments after Durban are not planning to take action 'til 2020, we need more coverage, not less.

Yet environmentalists reported a drop off in climate change reporting in 2009 Read More...

Civil society gets to grips with forest governance in the Republic of Congo

Nathalie Faure — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:48:22 +0100

image: nick hobgood

In the Republic of Congo, the civil society platform for the sustainable management of forests has just held a three day workshop, (from 19-21 January 2012). It was facilitated by Client Earth (Nathalie Faure), Well-Grounded (Cath Long), FERN (Indra van Gisbergen) and international forest legislation expert Robinson Djeukam, financed by the European Forest Institute and co-organised by Read More...

Reducing emissions by burning imported wood, a viable method of de-carbonising Britain's power ...

Giuseppe Nastasi — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:17:52 +0100

image: indiana public media

Yesterday saw the end of the consultation on the new levels of support for different renewable electricity technologies proposed by the UK Government under the Renewables Obligation scheme. According to the proposal, more than £850m per year will be handed out to new large-scale biomass plants as well as to coal plants that convert to biomass or to co-fire it with coal, withRead More...

Why is Europe's discussion on access to information so important?

Anais Berthier — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:21:08 +0100

image: heathbrandon

Access to information is a human right. It is also a great lever for the implementation of other rights and underlies any other activities civil society aspire to conduct. Without access to information there is nothing the NGO community may achieve. That is why the current review of the laws on access to documents held by EU institRead More...

A crucial time for energy efficiency in Europe

Eleonore Maitre — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:56:44 +0100

A few weeks from now, the European Parliament’s Committee for Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) will vote on the Commission's proposal for an Energy Efficiency Directive (EED). The proposal is based on a review of two overlapping pieces of legislation: the Cogeneration Directive (2004/8) and the Energy Services Directive (2006/32).

Whilst the Commission did not propose national binding targets to achieve a 20% increase of energy savings by 2020, the main goal ofRead More...

Why are strong procedural rights crucial to securing community rights to the land?

Nathalie Faure — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:18:39 +0100

ClientEarth met with two Fang communities in the north of Gabon to study the land tenure regime in the Woleu-Ntem province’s rural areas. What is striking is that so few people have so far secured legal ownership over their lands. Why?

The problem is in the law!

Since independence in 1960, little has changed in Gabon as to the land law regime: as provided by the 1963 land laws which cRead More...

48,000... 49,000... 50,000...

Melissa Pritchard — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 10:16:25 +0100

The success of the Fish Fight campaign so far has been incredible. 12 months ago the idea that we may get a discard ban in the European Commission’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) proposal was distant hope. Now it’s in the CFP proposal, you would be forgiven for thinking the job is done and dusted.

Actually, it’s just the start and we still have a mountain to climb. BRead More...

A closer look at our work with local communities in Gabon

Nathalie Faure — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 12:19:17 +0100

ClientEarth is engaged in working with forest communities and civil society in Africa to offer legal and strategic support to secure communities’ rights and promote fair and sustainable management of forests and land. We are working closely with local partners in Gabon, Ghana and the Republic of Congo.

Why is it important?

Forest communities have lived for hundreds of yearsRead More...

The role of bioenergy in meeting UK carbon budgets and targets

Giuseppe Nastasi — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 16:17:39 +0100

Yesterday (7 December) the Committee on Climate Change, an independent advisory body to the UK Government, published a report stating that burning biomass could result in emissions “significantly higher than alternative forms of low-carbon power generation, and only slightly lower than those from gas-fired power generation”. The report comes at a time when the UK Government is consulting on its proposals to review public support levels for renewable electricity technologies under Read More...

Nanotechnology – a threat to our health and the environment?

Vito Buonsante — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 10:44:57 +0100

This post appeared on the Collaborative for Health and the Environment Blog in 17 November 2011.

The smallest car in the world is one billionth of a metre. 60,000 times smaller than the thickness of a hair. And is self-propelled. Instead of carrying people or freight, it could transport molecules and atoms and be used to reconstruct damaged cells.

Nanoparticles can perform tasks that were previously never thought possible.

In recent years, nanomaterials have been incRead More...

Where now for the Green Investment Bank?

David Holyoake — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 10:15:48 +0100

Yesterday’s article in the Guardian revealed fresh grounds for concern that the government may fail to deliver a real bank with powers to borrow from the capital markets. The State Aid application sighted by the Guardian is indeed a good indication of critical design features of the Bank and once lodged with the European Commission, certain features will not be easy to revise. In particular, the article meRead More...

Missing ingredients in REDD+: a brief overview of proposed REDD+ text for adoption by COP17

Daniela Rey — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 16:59:42 +0100

Last year in Cancun, the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) agreed on a set of 7 social and environmental safeguards to ensure that REDD+ activities do not adversely affect human rights and biodiversity and promote multiple benefits. In addition, a mandate was given to the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) to provide guidance for the establishment of a Safeguards Information System (SIS), which would serve as means to ensure that Read More...

COP17 - a few reports you might have missed

Ceara Crawshaw — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:19:44 +0100

Image: freeimagesarchive

COP17 is undoubtedly a ‘big deal’, with major publications covering up to date news coverage, the factual breakdown of the talks in Durban is easily accessible.

There are however, a great many perspectives regarding the talks cropping up – here are a few things you might have missed.

If reading the news each day is too muchRead More...

The reformed CFP must end overfishing

Sandy Luk — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 11:02:47 +0100

ClientEarth's senior lawyer on marine issues Sandy Luk has written an op-ed for the website www.cfp-reformwatch.eu. In the piece Sandy explains that although Commissioner Maria Damanaki has said she wants an ambitious CFP reform that ends overfishing, as a legal document, the CFP reform proposal does not define clearly enough the terms and provisions to realise its goal.

Read the piece HERE

REDD+ Safeguards Sticking Points: The Top Negotiation Issues in COP17

Daniela Rey — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:36:40 +0100

Image: Tech109

Daniela Rey, Climate and Forests Lawyer for ClientEarth, shares her views on what are the sticking points on the current REDD+ safeguards negotiations at Durban. Below are her recommendations for ensuring that the design of the Safeguards Information System (SIS) is transparent, participatory and accurate.

Last year in Cancun, the Parties to the UNFCCC agreed on a set of 7 sRead More...

Appetite for sustainability – Can we trust our seafood purchases?

Rachel Bower — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:05:38 +0100

Two very different fishy stories in the news this week. Firstly, from the USA, further evidence that mis-labelling of fish is still rife, with 48% of fish DNA tested as part of an investigation by the Boston Globe labelled as a different species. Secondly, Fish2Fork (the UK campaigning fish restaurant guide which marks restaurants based on where their fish comes from and their appRead More...

Expectations for Durban: taking steps to ensure the effective implementation of REDD+ safeguards

Daniela Rey — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 16:09:50 +0100

As State Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol (KP) prepare to meet at the Conference of the Parties in Durban, South Africa, from November 28 to December 9, we expect they will be moving forward towards a decision on REDD+ that offers the opportunity to ensure the effective implementation of the REDD+ safeguards. Daniela Rey and Josh RoRead More...