#environment commissioner

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Dan Jørgensen Confirmed as EU Energy and Housing Commissioner Amidst Jessika Roswall's Uncertain Future

Dan Jørgensen’s Confirmation as Energy and Housing Commissioner Danish social democrat Dan Jørgensen is on track to becoming the energy and housing commissioner for the European Union, marking a historic moment as he takes on the housing portfolio for the first time in EU history. Meanwhile, the future of Swedish conservative Jessika Roswall remains uncertain after political groups delayed a…

Dan Jørgensen Confirmed as EU Energy and Housing Commissioner Amidst Jessika Roswall's Uncertain Future

[eureaueuwaterpolicy]

EurEau meets Commissioner Vella

10 March 2015

EurEau met the Commissioner for Environment, Karmenu Vella, yesterday 9 March in order to discuss the importance of water policy and highlight priority actions needed in this field, together with key other European water organisations.

Carl-Emil Larsen, president of EurEau, promoted the source control approach, considered also the right approach to follow by the European Commission in the communication “The Water Framework Directive and the Floods Directive: Actions towards the 'good status' of EU water and to reduce flood risks” published on 9 March. The polluter pays principle, the principle of cost recovery and the need of securing the necessary investments on water infrastructure were also at the core of the discussions. 

A Maltese, Commissioner Vella showed a great awareness of the importance of water for sustainable economic growth and jobs creation. Water is certainly a priority on his political agenda. 

Carla

Water matters. EU matters           

[dupuisjohnccgos]

Canada is set to badly miss a 2020 target for cutting emissions of greenhouse gases, in part because of its failure to regulate the booming oil and gas sector, Parliament's environmental watchdog said on Tuesday. The scathing report by Environment Commissioner Julie Gelfand will add to the political challenges faced by the right-leaning Conservative government, which polls show could lose power in an election set for 2015. The government has deep political roots in energy-rich Western Canada - home to the Alberta tar sands - and says it will do nothing to harm economic development. Gelfand found Ottawa did not even have a plan for how it would meet a commitment under the 2009 Copenhagen Accord to cut emissions by 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.

Dan Ljunggren, Canada to Badly Miss 2020 Emissions-Cut Target

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[dupuisjohnccgos]

While her predecessors were tough and uncompromising in their written analyses of the government’s multiple environmental failures, but guarded and diplomatic in their verbal comments, Gelfand was refreshingly straightforward and candid in response to reporters' questions. Commenting on the fact that the government’s sector-by-sector regulatory approach will not achieve the greenhouse gas emission reductions it promised at Copenhagen in 2009 (which were weaker than Kyoto), Gelfand looked straight at the cameras and said: "When you make a commitment you need to keep it. It is very difficult for Canada to expect other countries to meet their commitments when Canada can’t meet its own." The new Environment Commissioner added that the Conservatives' sector-by-sector regulatory approach is not working, especially since regulations for the oil and gas sector, promised in 2006, are still not forthcoming. She did reveal, interestingly, that the Harper government has had draft oil and gas regulations sitting on a shelf for about a year; but that it has only consulted very narrowly and privately on those -- and only with one province.

Karl Nerenberg, New Environment Commissioner slams Harper with frank and tough words

[dupuisjohnccgos]

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government is not doing enough to reduce carbon emissions, fight climate change and regulate oil and gas emissions, a series of audits from a federal watchdog have found. The audits, contained in a report published Tuesday, say Canada has no detailed plan to meet its emissions reduction targets, is on pace to fall well short of meeting them and has made no long-term commitment to environmental monitoring in the oil sands region, the fastest-growing source of emissions.

Josh Wingrove, Scathing report details Canada’s environmental shortfalls

[dupuisjohnccgos]

Canada is all but certain to miss its Copenhagen Accord target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, the country's environmental watchdog warned Tuesday. And not only has the Harper government failed to introduce regulations to limit emissions from the oil and gas sector, the fastest growing emitter, it has no plan for meeting the target, Julie Gelfand said in her first report as commissioner of the environment and sustainable development. ... The government has introduced regulations to govern the automotive and transportation sector, the biggest source of emissions, as well as the area of electricity production. But Gelfand's report says that while regulations for coal-fired plants are in place, emissions have yet to be reduced because "performance standards take effect only in July 2015, and only apply to new plants or to existing plants when they reach the end of their useful life."

Murray Brewster, Federal government falling further behind on emissions reductions, audit finds

[dupuisjohnccgos]

Opposition MPs say the lack of marine charts, navigation aids and ice-breaking services for the environmentally sensitive Arctic is disappointing and a significant worry for those who study the North. The problems were revealed Tuesday in an audit by Environment Commissioner Julie Gelfand. ... In her first report as Canada's environment commissioner, Julie Gelfand found a stark contradiction between the government's words and actions when it comes to Canada's plans for the Arctic. Despite the Conservative government's much vaunted "Northern Strategy," Gelfand's report found Arctic waters were inadequately surveyed and, on top of that, there isn't sufficient capacity to make charts. The environment commissioner's report looked at the state of the Canadian government's preparations for increased marine navigation in the Arctic. (Chris Wattie/Reuters) It also took aim at the Canadian Coast Guard and its icebreaking services, which are overseen by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and at the Canadian Hydrographic Service, which makes marine charts. "The Canadian Coast Guard's icebreaking presence in the Arctic is decreasing while vessel traffic is increasing," she wrote.

Max Paris & Laura Payton, Arctic mapping problems 'disappointing,' say opposition MPs

[newsdock]

Ottawa (AFP) - Canada will fail to reach its target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, the environment commissioner said Tuesday. Source: AFP