Category: Sustainable development

Impact of air pollution in the UK

John Vidal writes in the Guardian about air quality in UK cities, although primarily London, and what it is doing to health. One monitoring station in London shows the fourth highest levels of NO2 of over 2,000 monitoring stations in Europe. Cities are missing targets set under EU laws, but questions arise as to who … Continue reading Impact of air pollution in the UK →

New report on private green investments

The year 2013 promises long strides away from the fossil-fueled Industrial Era as illuminated by the Ethical Markets Green Transition Scoreboard® (GTS) which tracks private investments growing the green economy worldwide since 2007, finding $4.1 trillion invested or committed as of Q4 2012. The year 2012 was an inflection point for the green transition worldwide.  … Continue reading New report on private green investments →

Two important new reports

Estimating potential additional energy savings from upcoming revisions to existing regulations under the ecodesign and energy labelling directives, by CLASP and eceee  In the new discussion paper, CLASP has identified an additional 40-70 TWh per annum by 2030 from eleven existing ecodesign and energy labelling regulations covering seven product groups. All eleven regulations are scheduled … Continue reading Two important new reports →

Chinese eco-cities

Clare Pennington and Sue Lin Wong write for the Green Environment blog in the New York Times on the difficulties in China for developing eco-cities. Steep Challenges for a Chinese Eco-City Fifty years ago, during a time of food shortages, China's young socialist government singled out a few farm villages as role models for the … Continue reading Chinese eco-cities →

No “E” for effort

The UK magazine, Energy in Buildings & Industry, in its January 2013 issue provides the following report on how landlords are prepared for the upcoming changes to require landlords from 2018 to have their properties reach a certain standard before renting.  What is also worrying in this article, is the general attitude towards sustainability.   … Continue reading No “E” for effort →

Save these dates – January 31st to February 1st

On January 31st, the two-day R20 Conference: “Implementing the Sustainable Energy Future” begins in Vienna, Austria.  R20 is the Regions of Climate Change.  This 2-day conference, which will be opened by Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Federal Chancellor of Austria Werner Faymann and the President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso, is focused on bringing together … Continue reading Save these dates – January 31st to February 1st →

2012 Sustainability Society Index now available

The report of the newest update of the Sustainable Society Index, SSI-2012, is available on-line, showing at a glance the level of wellbeing and sustainability for 151 countries.  The index is prepared by the Sustainable Society Foundation, SSF, a non-profit organisation, established in 2006 with the objective of stimulating and assisting societies in their development … Continue reading 2012 Sustainability Society Index now available →

The on-going controversy over lower VAT rates in the UK to promote energy efficiency

Will Nichols of BusinessGreen writes about the problems the UK has been having to convince the European Commission of the importance of a lower VAT rate to improve energy efficiency in buildings.  It becomes all the more important as the UK rolls out the Green Deal.  One would think the Commission would be encouraging this … Continue reading The on-going controversy over lower VAT rates in the UK to promote energy efficiency →