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Jan 09 2017
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Sustainable Democratic Energy for Ireland and Europe

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The European Union is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 80 – 95% below 1990 levels by 2050. Given the many reasons for public concern about the technological and infrastructural developments required to achieve this ambitious target — threats to landscapes and habitats, public safety fears, etc. — citizens themselves must be informed and engaged in the decision-making process.

Using case studies from citizen’s initiatives and renewable energy projects specifically in Ireland, and contrasting them with similar experiences in Denmark and Germany, Dan Boyle makes the case for the desirability of participative renewable energy projects across Europe as a whole. He also provides an overview of some of the key democratic models for effective public participation, examining key lessons learnt from environmental campaigns which have questioned and opposed renewable energy projects on the basis of the potential environmental damage caused by the infrastructure.

Ireland has had one of the highest levels of fossil fuel dependence in the European Union but, with relatively abundant wind and water power opportunities, combined with the entrance into government of the Irish Green Party for the first time in 2007, Ireland is racing towards its renewable energy targets. In 2012, for example, its target of 40% renewable energy generation was achieved 103 days early. According to Boyle, part of the reason for the comparatively swift development of renewables in Ireland was the level of public participation and buy-in — concepts which are explored in depth in this report.

Jan 09 2017
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The UK, France, Poland and the future of EU energy policy

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The French government is currently working on plans to reduce France’s reliance on nuclear energy and adopt ambitious CO2 reduction goals. The roadmap for this will be presented in an ambitious energy law, expected to be published later this year. Celia Gautier from Reseau Action Climate France outlines the current debate and highlights some of the challenges faced.

The UK, meanwhile, is facing an uncertain energy future, with efforts by some to impose uncertain CCS (carbon capture and storage) and risky fracking for shale gas in to the country’s energy mix. But what does this mean for its future investment in renewables? Mark Johnson from the European Policy Centre gives an overview of the situation.

Poland is a country in need of a major energy transition, yet the concept of widespread use of green energy is yet to take root. What concrete steps can be taken to change this? Andrzej Kassenberg, co-founder and president of the Institute for Sustainable Development Poland, provides some ideas.

The articles of this web dossier are part of a project of GEF within the Heinrich Böll Stiftung’s GET@EU project. This project aims at strengthening the dialogue on the impacts of the German “Energiewende” on other European states and to develop and promote new common visions for the construction of a European energy transition. Events as part of this project took place in London, Paris, Brussels and Warsaw.

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Energy Policy is getting lost among UK's political football games 112.43 KB 40 downloads

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Analysis of the current state of the Polish Energy Policy 215.81 KB 44 downloads

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Jan 09 2017
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Paris Climate 2015 – 20 years on

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At the end of 2015, France will be hosting the 21st Conference of the Parties to the Climate Agreement (COP21). It is hoped that the international negotiations, which take place in Le Bourget for a fortnight under the patronage of the UNO, will result in an ambitious, universal and binding agreement by the international community, enabling greenhouse gas emissions to be reduced and global warming to be limited to + 2°C.

To take a truly idealistic approach: supposing that the 2015 Paris Conference was a success, and 2015 – and the years thereafter – saw a spectacular turnaround in international political decisions, what might the world look like in 2035?

To paint the portrait of such a post-transitional ecological world, a diverse group of writers recognised in their fields have produced the texts which make up this publication concerning the various questions which are key factors in the expected scenarios: world governance and new territorial, agricultural, social, economic, legal and political models. They are pieces in an as-yet incomplete jigsaw puzzle depicting a new world, imagined a quarter of a century after the Paris Conference.

The contributions by the authors of  “Paris Climate 2015: 20 years on” collection and the illustrations accompanying them convey a society in which ecological transition has enabled us to reweave our social links and change our methods of government, making them fairer, and rethink our relations with nature and the production of value in the long term.

In the near future, citizens’ action, a new economic logic and their reflection in terms of collective expectations, will lead to a renewed political dynamism, both locally and internationally, in response to the challenge of climate change. A better world, not “the best of all possible worlds”, but one which is multifaceted, open to the diversity of the possible, giving ample room for individual and collective initiative and, therefore, for discussions on the solutions, is to be envisaged.

Can imagination make it easier to understand the risks that climate change bears? That is the question at the heart of this collection of “climate prospects”, imagined as an original and creative debating tool for use at the 2015 Paris Climate Conference.

You can download the publication below in English or French, or visit the dedicated site of the FEP here.

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Paris 20 Years On EN 1.39 MB 53 downloads

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Paris 20 Years On FR 4.42 MB 93 downloads

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Jan 09 2017
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Building up for Paris: COP21

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2015 is a crucial year for climate negotiations. The current agreement – the Kyoto Protocol – is in its final commitment period (2013-2020) and this year marks the deadline for world leaders to reach a new agreement. As the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) states, this agreement could be in the form of “a protocol, another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force under the Convention applicable to all Parties”, which will enter into force post-2020 in order to keep global warming below 2°C.

Over the year, the Parties met at different sessions. The most recent one took place in Bonn in June and there will another session in the beginning September. These events all pave the way towards the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP) that will be held in Paris in December, where the negotiations will peak.

The chapters in the report are structured as follows: chapter two provides a summary of the history of COPs since the UNFCCC was created by the Parties following the Earth Summit in 1992. The third chapter assesses what is at stake in Paris. In the fourth chapter, we discuss the legal nature that a Paris deal could adopt.

The fifth chapter provides a deeper analysis on a core principle guiding the negotiations: common but differentiated responsibilities. The sixth and the seventh chapters give an insight on the broader concepts of mitigation and adaptation in the context of the UNFCCC negotiations.

The eighth chapter focuses on the CBDR principle and the notion that the implementation of the Convention worldwide needs financial mechanisms. This chapter is followed by a critical perspective on market mechanism, before moving on to discuss land-use, land-use change and forestry in the tenth chapter – giving an insight on the broader topic of agriculture within the UNFCCC.

To follow, the eleventh chapter deals with another part of the Convention, essential for its implementation but often forgotten: education. The twelfth chapter focuses on the blockers in the UNFCCC process, divided in two parts: the countries analysed through their group position (Umbrella and EU); and the business and industry networks. Finally, the publication concludes with the elaboration of possible scenarios for the COP in Paris.

Jan 09 2017
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Green News – Climate Edition

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With articles in English, French and Polish, this e-book includes, among others, an examination of climate change as a moral challenge, an economic deconstruction of climate change as a ‘neoliberal illusion’, and a social perspective on climate change as a threat to the public goods that belong to all citizens.

A wide array of authors have contributed to the publication, including NGO representatives, political figures, scientists, and even an award-winning documentary-maker from several European countries. The e-book also contains case studies on how climate change is impacting specific areas such as the Arctic, the Amazon and Indonesia, as well as how the fight against climate change is manifested in areas such as resistance to TTIP, and how to spur further action and maintain the momentum of the campaign, now that COP21 is behind us.

Dec 09 2016
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The European Patient – A Diagnosis of the EU’s Maladies

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Today, Europe is in the midst of a number of overlapping crises: among others, economic, social, political, and environmental. For years it has been obvious that the European project cannot go on in the way it exists today, but the warnings were not taken seriously by the governments and major political forces in Europe. A “Grexit” or “Grexident” was barely averted in 2015, and 2016 saw a majority of voters in the United Kingdom opting to leave the European Union. In the meantime, opinion polls have shown that large parts of the population in other member countries, France and Denmark amongst others, would not mind following the British example of continuing their lives outside the European Union.

The compilation is subjective, and is based on the readings of the author and the GEF team, as well as a survey of the correspondents of the Green European Journal. The selected articles do not represent the views of the whole of the Green movement; rather their goal is to provide food for thought and to provide a selection of interesting readings

This publication looks into a number of possible reasons that have led, according to analysts, politicians, journalists, and activists, to the current problems of the EU, in order to identify the most important issues of concern, and – as a next step of our project – provide solutions to the shortcomings of the European Union.

Sep 13 2016
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rapport d’événement : ProjetECOPRO – edition Bruxelles

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TRADUCTION FR
GEF’s ecological production project, ECOPRO, landed in Brussels with a seminar on November 20th, organised alongside our Flemish partners Oikos think tank, debating the transition towards a sustainable, technologically-enhanced society.

The ECOPRO Project, the successor of the GEF’s 2014 project Socioecological Reindustrialisation (SERIND), explores pathways for a transition towards ecological production, as part of a sustainable economy that is low-carbon and fosters an equal society. Nine national foundations from different regions and different member states of the European Union are involved in exploring pathways for ecological production. The project is content-wise coordinated by Dirk Holemans of the Flemish green think tank Oikos.

Can we replace our energy-intensive throwaway economy by a circular economy based on ecological production? This was the central question for the ECOPRO congress on the 20th of november 2015 in Brussels.

The program included:

Introduction – Waste doesn’t exist.

During the introduction the congress was framed in the upcoming climate summit in Paris by Dirk Holemans, coordinator of the Flemish think tank OIKOS. To reach the necessary goals in Paris we have to transform our economic model from a linear to a circular one. The aim of the ECOPRO project was to exchange new ideas about a sustainable circular economy in a European network.

Andreas Novy – How a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly.

Andreas Novy, Professor at the University of Vienna, talked as first speaker about ‘the perspective of sufficiency’. “Why don’t the alarming reports of the IPCC have an impact? People don’t just give up on  power and privileges, and in this world oil is still equal to power. But there is hope: the last few years there has been a consensus in circles of social and ecological thinkers that there is an alternative, for which grassroots initiatives can be the key. We have to get rid of the idea that consumption and growth are necessary.”

Dirk Vansintjan – There’s need for a cooperative economy.

Dirk Vansintjan is founder of Ecopower, a Belgian energy cooperative which invests in renewable energy projects. Dirk Vansintjan was a normal man with a crazy idea. In his twenties he tried to produce energy with a renovated watermill together with some equally minded friends. This young enthusiasm later became the successful energy cooperative Ecopower. Sources of renewable energy are common goods according to Dirk Vansintjan, as they are not state property, so they can be used by everyone. Ecopower formed a federation with other equal European initiatives, which is named REScoop (Renewable Energysources Cooperative). European rules are very important concerning energy.

Miquel Ballester – Fairphone is made for humans.

Miquel Ballester is Product Manager at Fairphone. Fairphone wanted to offer an alternative for the injustice caused by the production of mobile phones. That’s why the company started producing more honest and ecological phones. Fairphone has a policy of open communication about the mistakes they make, they display exact numbers about the traceability of the resources they use and about the possibility to repair a Fairphone. The new version of Fairphone, Fairphone 2, is according to Miquel Ballester “made for humans”. He illustrated this during his lecture by dropping his own Fairphone.

Mia Goetvinck – Ricoh is a market leader. They just don’t make such a fuss about it as other companies do.

Mia Goetvinck is Director Business Excellence at Ricoh Belgium. Ricoh is an international producer of copiers, printers and other electronics. This company proves that big companies can do a lot of effort for the environment. Ricoh takes responsibility for the protection of the environment and does a lot more than what the law tells them to do.

We are pleased to offer you the opportunity to read our interview with Mia Goetvinck.

Wouter Van Besien – Circular economy is like heaven.

Everybody can be enthusiastic about circular economy, but there’s a danger that not everybody has the same definition of circular economy. Circular economy is not the same thing as recycling, the use of new resources needs to be avoided as much as possible. The circles of a circular economy need to be short and run slowly, otherwise it’s not sustainable. The lifecycle of a product shouldn’t go across the earth, with parts that are all produced and assembled in different places. There should be local production, consumption and repair. Slow circles can be realized by sustainable products with a long life cycle.

For more information you can visit the ECOPRO page or the Oikos Event page here. For any other details regarding the event you can send an E-mail to Dirk Holemans: dirk.holemans@oikos.be.

This event was organised with the financial support of the European Parliament to the Green European Foundation.

Files (manually added in wordpress text editor with “add media” button: Mia Goetvinck interview on circular economy