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The Arab World should give priority to phasing out Subsidies on fossil Fuels
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North Africa and the Arab peninsula are among the best insolated regions on earth. There are very few other areas with comparable duration and intensity of sunshine. If anywhere, it is in the huge Arab desert areas that solar electricity could be gen...
No Need for an Euro-zone Government à la Hollande
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In an almost three hour long press conference May 16th, President Hollande has called for a Euro-zone government to overcome recession in the EU. It should dispose of a separate budget and wide-ranging competence to harmonise taxes and economic and s...
Solar Plane breaking Records but not fit for commercial Traffic
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During May 2013 a solar-fuelled plane, piloted by two entrepreneurial Swiss citizens, is crossing the USA from California to New York, with a few stop-overs in major cities. It is an unprecedented event aiming to encourage policy makers and business...
The EU should only target 45 per cent CO2 Reductions 1990-2030
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The EU is in the process of defining its energy/climate policy beyond 2020. This is timely for two reasons: European business needs to be fixed on the policy framework for their long-term investments related to energy, transport, buildings, grids etc...
Living without fossil energies
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In 2011 the EU Commission set out a long-term energy road-map for a Europe 2050 getting along almost without fossil energies. Though it has sketched out the direction that ought to be taken to that end it has not explained what this would mean for ou...
Coping with growing Diversity in a EU 28+
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Governance is about setting and implementing rules. It is based on reciprocal trust between governments and citizens. The more citizens share similar values and traditions the easier it is to govern. Big countries or those encompassing different cult...
Achieving an effective and equitable Climate Change Agreement by 2015
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At the last meeting of the UNFCCC in Doha in December 2012 the contracting parties have pledged to finalise negotiations on an international climate compact before the end of 2015 that should enter into force by 2020. This pledge will only become rea...
Ten Years in Office are enough for European Commission President
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The five-year mandate of the present European Commission President expires October 31th 2014. Contrary to the restrictive provisions concerning the President of the European Council and the members of the Court of Justice the Treaty on the European U...
Egypt must put its House in Order
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Egypt is again in urgent need of reform. It has failed to replace the Mubarak regime by legitimate governance; and its economy, that had shown a remarkable performance during much of the first decade is out of step, with high unemployment, rising inf...
Oil Companies abandon Solar and Wind Business
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The decision by BP to sell off 4.6 GW capacity of wind power plants and projects in North America puts an end to an expensive dream to combine renewable with fossil energies that has cost BP some $ 6.5 billion since 2005. Through their investment in...
For an effective EU Energy and Climate Policy Framework 2030
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Investments in the energy sector require long planning horizons. Companies need to plan investments decades ahead. To minimise inherent uncertainties they should be able to rely on a regulatory framework stretching far into the future. The EU energy...
Is the cold March 2013 due to Climate Change?
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Belgium and other West European countries have witnessed one of the most bizarre March ever. After a spring-like beginning it turned unusually cold in the second half of the month with icy north-eastern winds making the cold feel really icy. Many Peo...
Solar and Wind Energy keep booming
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2012 has seen new records in newly installed solar and wind power capacity. Globally installed capacity has now reached almost 400 GW, of which 300 GW wind and 100 GW solar PV. In the last 10 years solar PV has expanded more rapidly than wind power,...
The EU Commission should act to save Bees
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Bees are in danger of global extermination, particularly in Europe and North America. Without bees Humanity will not be able to feed itself. Albert Einstein is on record to have said 100 years ago that Humanity would not survive more than four years...
Germany needs to offset Budget Deficits and Labour Costs in the Euro Zone
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The German Ministry of Finance has proudly announced on March 11th that the country will have essentially balanced its budget as of 2014. Structural budget deficits will belong to the past. Germany would thus be the first of the 25 EU countries to li...
Three tiny signals of hope on the climate front?
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Global green house gas emissions keep rising at an alarming pace despite the slow down of the global economy. In 2011 global C02 emissions reached a new high of 34 billion tons, increasing by three per cent. There is no prospect for a rapid turn-arou...
Latvia will give a boost to the eurozone
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As expected, the Latvian government has put in its request for joining the Euro-zone as of January 2014. This is a courageous step considering that two thirds of the Latvian population are against the introduction of the Euro. Like all EU countries,...
Unconventional Gas is no more than a Bridge Fuel
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Within a few years unconventional gas, in particular shale gas, discoveries in the USA, have changed the geopolitics of energy. The USA is becoming one the major gas producers on earth, shaking off its dependence on the unstable Gulf region. Gas pric...
The EU Emission Trading System needs an Overhaul
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The EU emission trading system, created 10 years ago, was meant to facilitate EU countries achieve their target of reducing green house gas emissions by 20 per cent until 2020, at the lowest cost. To that end, the 11 000 biggest emitter companies acc...
French Industrial Policy on the Wrong Track
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Europe finds itself in a process of relative de-industrialisation. The share of manufacturing in the GDP keeps falling. Few are the EU countries where manufacturing accounts for 30 per cent of GDP, the global average, let alone that of China (47...
