Green Policy
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The EU remains on track to exceed the international carbon emissions targets imposed through the Kyoto Protocol, despite a 2.4 per cent in emissions last year driven by the bloc's gradual economic recovery. According to figures released today as part of the European Commission's annual report on its progress to meeting its Kyoto targets, EU greenhouse gas emissions for 2010 were 15.5 per cent below 1990 levels despite economic growth of 41 per cent over the same period. Significantly, emissions across the EU fell for six consecutive years through to and including 2009, even when the bloc was enjoying economic growth. EU climate change commissioner Connie Hedegaard hailed the report as evidence the EU has successfully decoupled emissions from economic growth through the wider use of low carbon technologies.
Official: EU climate policy is working - 07 Oct 2011 - News from BusinessGreen
Report: EU attempts to salvage Kyoto Protocol - 23 Aug 2011 - News from BusinessGreen
The EU is reportedly working on a compromise package of proposals designed to end the deadlock between developing and industrialised nations over the future of the Kyoto Protocol. A senior EU official told influential newswire Point Carbon News that diplomats are working on a plan that would see Kyoto extended beyond its current expiration date of 2012, on the understanding that it is then allowed to lapse in 2018 to be replaced by a new global pact. European environment ministers are expected to consider the new plan when they meet in October to finalise the EU's formal negotiating period ahead of the next UN climate summit in Durban at the end of the year.Reports: EU pushing for global renewable energy targets - 30 Sep 2011 - News from BusinessGreen
The EU is planning to call on the rest of the world to emulate its low carbon strategy and adopt global targets for renewable energy use and energy efficiency improvements. According to Reuters reports, EU officials are working on a new negotiating position ahead of next June's Rio+20 sustainability summit that will see Brussels call for binding renewable energy and energy efficiency targets, in addition to targets to cut emissions. "We should aim at globally binding targets," Karl-Heinz Florenz, a member of the European Parliament who helped draft a resolution on the new proposals, told the news agency. The EU's flagship climate change strategy is built around three separate targets for 2020 demanding that the region cut emissions by 20 per cent, improve energy efficiency by 20 per cent, and generate 20 per cent of energy from renewable sources.
Editor's Note: In testimony to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, Eswar Prasad discusses China's twelfth five-year plan to reorient growth and implement short and long-term efforts toward balance and sustainability. Chairmen Slane and Mulloy, and honorable members of the Commission, thank you for the opportunity to share with you my views on China’s twelfth five-year plan and the implications for China’s growth and reform strategy.
China's Approach to Economic Development and Industrial Policy - Brookings Institution
In March 2005, at the 5th Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development ( MCED 2005 ) held in Seoul, Republic of Korea, some 340 delegates, including representatives from 52 member and associate member countries of ESCAP embraced the approach of Environmentally Sustainable Economic Growth or Green Growth. The conference endorsed Green Growth as a policy focus and powerful strategy to promote win-win approaches to reconciling the conflict between the achievement of two important Millennium Development Goals: MDG 1 (poverty reduction) and MDG 7 (environmental sustainability). The conference was a milestone in regional cooperation for sustainable development 2005-2010. Three major documents were adopted at the meeting: the Ministerial Declaration, Regional Implementation Plan 2006-2010 and the Seoul Initiative on Green Growth.
Green Growth
China, Japan, and South Korea are dependent on fossil fuels. This reliance perpetuates vulnerabilities to energy supply, incites resource competition, and exposes each country to fossil energy market...
Publications | KEI | Korea Economic Institute
Sustainability in China: More than Winning a Cleantech War
Home > Ideas > Commentary Text Size: A A Rarely a day goes by without an article that focuses on the progress that China is making in sustainability.
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Green Energy & Development Law Blog : Green Building & Development Lawyer & Attorney : Brad N. Mondschein : Pullman & Comley Law Firm
Green Science Policy Institute | mobilizing scientists, industry, government and consumers to reduce toxics
On October 12th, California’s Carcinogen Identification Committee voted 5-1 to add TDCPP (chlorinated Tris) to the Proposition 65 list of cancer-causing chemicals. Chlorinated Tris, the same chemical removed from use in baby pajamas in 1977 due to concerns about carcinogenicity, is the most commonly used flame retardant in foam in U.S. furniture and baby products, according to recent studies. This action does not ban chlorinated Tris but it will require warning labels on the products that contain it. In a new peer-reviewed study, Flame Retardants in Furniture Foam: Benefits and Risks, Vytenis Babrauskas, Arlene Blum, Rebecca Daley, and Linda Birnbaum found that California's furniture flammability standard Technical Bulletin 117 does not provide measurable fire safety benefits and leads to serious health and environmental harm.Green Building |US EPA
The buildings in which we live, work, and play protect us from nature's extremes, yet they also affect our health and environment in countless ways. As the environmental impact of buildings becomes more apparent, a new field called "green building" is gaining momentum. Green, or sustainable, building is the practice of creating and using healthier and more resource-efficient models of construction, renovation, operation, maintenance and demolition. Read more about green building or use these links to explore topics: News and Events
In July 2008, nef published the world’s first Green New Deal: new initiative for economic and environmental transformation. The report, A Green New Deal , described the global economy facing a ‘triple crunch’: a combination of a credit-fuelled financial crisis, accelerating climate change and the looming peak and decline in oil production. These three overlapping events threaten to develop into a perfect storm, the like of which has not been seen since the Great Depression.
The Green New Deal | the new economics foundation
LEED
LEED certification provides independent, third-party verification that a building project is environmentally responsible, profitable and a healthy place to live and work. Learn about the LEED certification process, the application guide for multiple building projects, and the program for volume certificationThe International Green Construction Code (IGCC) is a model code for cities seeking to promote sustainable building practices through their building codes. The IGCC promotes transition from the current voluntary green construction certifications, like USGBC’s LEED, to mandatory green construction codes. As the most recent revisions of the IGCC are currently under review, Green Building Law Update hopes to promote awareness by examining some of the code sections.
Green Building Law Update : Green Building & Construction LEED AP, Lawyer & Attorney Chris Cheatham : Washington DC, Virginia, New York City
The 2012 International Green Construction Code (IgCC), released today, will increase the energy-efficiency of structures, while providing governments direction and oversight of green design and construction, according to the International Code Council (ICC) the code's author and one of several U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) partners in the effort. USGBC, makers of the LEED green building certification system and co-authors of ANSI/ASHRAE/IES/USGBC Standard 189.1, applauds this new model code that serves as an important new policy option for state and local governments looking to codify green building practice Read the release » Using LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) buildings increases revenue generated by bank branches even when they offer the same products and services, according to a new study co-authored by University of Notre Dame management professors Edward Conlon and Ante Glavas.