[Top News] from [REUTERS]
[Green Business]
EU leaders seek treaty, climate change deals
Sun Oct 25, 2009 6:53am EDT
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders hope to reach a deal at a summit this week removing the last obstacles to a treaty to give the bloc more global clout, but face a battle over funding for a global climate change agreement.
Failure to break the deadlock would risk leaving the 27-country bloc looking impotent when it is trying to strengthen its role on the world stage and the influence of emerging powers such as China is growing following the economic crisis.
EU leaders say publicly they are hopeful of breaking the impasse on both issues. But much depends on quiet diplomacy in the run-up to the summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday.
The chances of a breakthrough over the Lisbon reform treaty rose on Friday when Czech President Vaclav Klaus, the only EU leader holding out against the charter, welcomed proposals by the EU's Swedish presidency for securing his signature.
"I expect that some solution is possible, in my opinion. I'm optimistic about the whole issue," European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek told Reuters in an interview.
The treaty sets out reforms to ease EU decision-making and creates two new posts, a new long-term president and a foreign policy chief with enhanced powers for a bloc that now represents almost 500 million people.
As a condition for signing, Klaus has demanded an opt-out from a rights charter that is attached to the treaty, saying he wants to shield the Czech Republic from property claims by ethnic Germans expelled after World War Two.
Diplomats say EU heads of government should now be able to agree on a political declaration that enables Klaus to save face but makes no changes to the Lisbon treaty.
"I think they can find a way to give Klaus what he wants without it really meaning anything except saving face for him," said Hugo Brady of the Center for European Reform think tank.
Czech ratification also depends on a review by the country's Constitutional Court, but it is widely expected to approve it, possibly before the summit. Klaus would then be expected to sign it and the treaty could go into force by the end of the year.
CLIMATE CHANGE DEAL
The leaders are less likely to agree at the summit on funding for a global climate change deal that will be negotiated at talks in Copenhagen in December, EU diplomats say.
"This will be serious because then we will have no position on funding (for the Copenhagen talks)," a senior diplomat said.
Funding to help poor nations combat climate change is the main obstacle to success in the talks in Copenhagen on a new deal to combat global warming.
A draft summit statement seen by Reuters gave no precise figure for the financial contribution the EU would make to help the developing countries.
EU member states are also split over how much to contribute before the new climate deal starts. Nine of the bloc's poorer countries want the early contributions to be voluntary and EU finance ministers gave up trying to resolve the issue last week.
The EU leaders could also discuss at the summit who will be the new long-term EU president and foreign affairs chief, but it is not certain they will get on to discussing names because the Lisbon treaty creating the posts is not yet in force.
Even if the EU emerges from the summit with agreement on the main issues, the delays over the treaty -- which has been in the works for years -- and the divisions over climate change funding have had an impact on the bloc's image.
"The question is does the EU have the capacity to act on behalf of the people? And does it have the capacity to act on the world stage?" Brady asked. "There has been so much discussion of just little passages of text. It's sickening."
[Green Business]
Biden to announce GM plant's reopening: source
Sun Oct 25, 2009 5:48pm EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden plans on Tuesday to visit a closed General Motors plant in Wilmington, Delaware, where he is expected to announce that it will be reopened for the building of plug-in hybrid electric cars.
The California-based venture capital firm Fisker Automotive Inc has reached a deal to buy the former GM assembly plant and plans to use it for the manufacture of the cars, according to a source familiar with the details of Biden's visit.
Henrik Fisker, chief executive and founder of the firm, is scheduled to attend Tuesday's event, said the person who asked not to be identified in advance of the formal announcement.
A White House statement on Biden's visit said he planned a major announcement about the assembly plant's future but gave no other details. Delaware is Biden's home state.
The announcement is planned for 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Caren Bohan; Editing by Bill Trott)
[Green Business]
Poland to sign CO2 deal with Spain and Ireland
Mon Oct 26, 2009 1:37am EDT
By Risa Maeda
TOKYO (Reuters) - Poland will soon sign a deal to sell a total 40 million euros ($60 million) of surplus greenhouse gas emission rights to Spain and Ireland, the country's first such government-to-government deal under the Kyoto Protocol, its environment minister said.
Under the Kyoto Protocol, signatory nations that are comfortably below their emissions targets can sell their surpluses in the form of credits, called Assigned Amount Units (AAUs), to governments and companies that are short of their goals.
Poland, the European Union's biggest ex-communist state, is able to sell about 500 million tons in CO2 equivalent of AAUs over the 2008-2012 period of Kyoto's first phase and is also looking to sell them in Japan, said Environment Minister Maciej Nowicki, who was visiting Tokyo for an investment seminar.
"Just in two weeks I will sign the first contract with Spain and with Ireland through EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development)," Nowicki told Reuters in an interview on Monday.
The EBRD has set up a Multilateral Carbon Credit Fund to help governments seeking to trade such surplus credits via market schemes under the Kyoto Protocol.
"Spain and Ireland this year in budgets together have 40 million euros for this purpose," he said, referring to the value to be spent on Poland's AAUs by the two governments. Nowicki declined to disclose the amount of AAUs or other details.
In July, Poland completed the domestic legal framework needed to sell AAUs, lagging other sellers in Eastern Europe. The Japanese government has already settled deals to buy AAUs from Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Latvia.
Nowicki said Poland would spend the money from the AAUs only on programs to cut greenhouse gas emissions such as those investing in renewable energy sources, energy efficiency and clean-coal technologies.
"We have several programs which are ready and we're waiting for the money," he said, adding that his government has also had talks with Japanese trading houses Mitsubishi Corp and Mitsui & Co Ltd on selling AAUs.
"I think now we can accelerate the discussions. I think the first transaction will open the door for other negotiators, other possibilities," he said.
($1=.6665 Euro)
(Editing by Chris Gallagher)
[Green Business]
EU leaders seek treaty, climate change deals
Sun Oct 25, 2009 6:53am EDT
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders hope to reach a deal at a summit this week removing the last obstacles to a treaty to give the bloc more global clout, but face a battle over funding for a global climate change agreement.
Failure to break the deadlock would risk leaving the 27-country bloc looking impotent when it is trying to strengthen its role on the world stage and the influence of emerging powers such as China is growing following the economic crisis.
EU leaders say publicly they are hopeful of breaking the impasse on both issues. But much depends on quiet diplomacy in the run-up to the summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday.
The chances of a breakthrough over the Lisbon reform treaty rose on Friday when Czech President Vaclav Klaus, the only EU leader holding out against the charter, welcomed proposals by the EU's Swedish presidency for securing his signature.
"I expect that some solution is possible, in my opinion. I'm optimistic about the whole issue," European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek told Reuters in an interview.
The treaty sets out reforms to ease EU decision-making and creates two new posts, a new long-term president and a foreign policy chief with enhanced powers for a bloc that now represents almost 500 million people.
As a condition for signing, Klaus has demanded an opt-out from a rights charter that is attached to the treaty, saying he wants to shield the Czech Republic from property claims by ethnic Germans expelled after World War Two.
Diplomats say EU heads of government should now be able to agree on a political declaration that enables Klaus to save face but makes no changes to the Lisbon treaty.
"I think they can find a way to give Klaus what he wants without it really meaning anything except saving face for him," said Hugo Brady of the Center for European Reform think tank.
Czech ratification also depends on a review by the country's Constitutional Court, but it is widely expected to approve it, possibly before the summit. Klaus would then be expected to sign it and the treaty could go into force by the end of the year.
CLIMATE CHANGE DEAL
The leaders are less likely to agree at the summit on funding for a global climate change deal that will be negotiated at talks in Copenhagen in December, EU diplomats say.
"This will be serious because then we will have no position on funding (for the Copenhagen talks)," a senior diplomat said.
Funding to help poor nations combat climate change is the main obstacle to success in the talks in Copenhagen on a new deal to combat global warming.
A draft summit statement seen by Reuters gave no precise figure for the financial contribution the EU would make to help the developing countries.
EU member states are also split over how much to contribute before the new climate deal starts. Nine of the bloc's poorer countries want the early contributions to be voluntary and EU finance ministers gave up trying to resolve the issue last week.
The EU leaders could also discuss at the summit who will be the new long-term EU president and foreign affairs chief, but it is not certain they will get on to discussing names because the Lisbon treaty creating the posts is not yet in force.
Even if the EU emerges from the summit with agreement on the main issues, the delays over the treaty -- which has been in the works for years -- and the divisions over climate change funding have had an impact on the bloc's image.
"The question is does the EU have the capacity to act on behalf of the people? And does it have the capacity to act on the world stage?" Brady asked. "There has been so much discussion of just little passages of text. It's sickening."
[Green Business]
Biden to announce GM plant's reopening: source
Sun Oct 25, 2009 5:48pm EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden plans on Tuesday to visit a closed General Motors plant in Wilmington, Delaware, where he is expected to announce that it will be reopened for the building of plug-in hybrid electric cars.
The California-based venture capital firm Fisker Automotive Inc has reached a deal to buy the former GM assembly plant and plans to use it for the manufacture of the cars, according to a source familiar with the details of Biden's visit.
Henrik Fisker, chief executive and founder of the firm, is scheduled to attend Tuesday's event, said the person who asked not to be identified in advance of the formal announcement.
A White House statement on Biden's visit said he planned a major announcement about the assembly plant's future but gave no other details. Delaware is Biden's home state.
The announcement is planned for 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Caren Bohan; Editing by Bill Trott)
[Green Business]
Poland to sign CO2 deal with Spain and Ireland
Mon Oct 26, 2009 1:37am EDT
By Risa Maeda
TOKYO (Reuters) - Poland will soon sign a deal to sell a total 40 million euros ($60 million) of surplus greenhouse gas emission rights to Spain and Ireland, the country's first such government-to-government deal under the Kyoto Protocol, its environment minister said.
Under the Kyoto Protocol, signatory nations that are comfortably below their emissions targets can sell their surpluses in the form of credits, called Assigned Amount Units (AAUs), to governments and companies that are short of their goals.
Poland, the European Union's biggest ex-communist state, is able to sell about 500 million tons in CO2 equivalent of AAUs over the 2008-2012 period of Kyoto's first phase and is also looking to sell them in Japan, said Environment Minister Maciej Nowicki, who was visiting Tokyo for an investment seminar.
"Just in two weeks I will sign the first contract with Spain and with Ireland through EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development)," Nowicki told Reuters in an interview on Monday.
The EBRD has set up a Multilateral Carbon Credit Fund to help governments seeking to trade such surplus credits via market schemes under the Kyoto Protocol.
"Spain and Ireland this year in budgets together have 40 million euros for this purpose," he said, referring to the value to be spent on Poland's AAUs by the two governments. Nowicki declined to disclose the amount of AAUs or other details.
In July, Poland completed the domestic legal framework needed to sell AAUs, lagging other sellers in Eastern Europe. The Japanese government has already settled deals to buy AAUs from Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Latvia.
Nowicki said Poland would spend the money from the AAUs only on programs to cut greenhouse gas emissions such as those investing in renewable energy sources, energy efficiency and clean-coal technologies.
"We have several programs which are ready and we're waiting for the money," he said, adding that his government has also had talks with Japanese trading houses Mitsubishi Corp and Mitsui & Co Ltd on selling AAUs.
"I think now we can accelerate the discussions. I think the first transaction will open the door for other negotiators, other possibilities," he said.
($1=.6665 Euro)
(Editing by Chris Gallagher)
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