Shell to link carbon emissions targets to senior executive pay

DutchNews, December 3, 2018

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Anglo Dutch oil giant Shell plans to set carbon emissions targets next year and link these to executive bonuses, chief executive Ben van Beurden has told the Financial Times. 

The move follows pressure from shareholders such as the  Church of England and Robeco who have ‘pushed Shell to make firm commitments to cut its carbon footprint’, the paper says. They have criticised last year’s announced ambition to halve carbon emissions by 2050 as not going far enough. 

Van Beurden said that by setting targets the company would be ‘systematically driving down our carbon footprint over time’. 

The company is still in talks with investors about the percentage to be targeted but the pay of 1,200 top employees could be affected, the FT said. 

Dutch civil service pension fund ABP has welcomed Shell’s decision. ‘The fact that Shell has anchored its ambition in its remuneration policy offers more confidence that Shell will really commit itself,’ chairwoman Corien Wortmann told the Financieele Dagblad. 

We will keep an eye on progress with ‘great interest’, Wortmann told the paper. 

The announcement comes at the start of UN climate talks start in Katowice, Poland.

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Travel firms to brief holidaymakers on their trip’s environmental footprint

DutchNews, April 12, 2016

A Fokker 70 takes off from Schiphol
airport. Photo jvanderwolf via
Depositphotos

Dutch travel firms are to start informing holidaymakers how much environmental damage their trip is doing by listing ‘holiday footprints’ in brochures and on websites, travel sector organisation ANVR says in Tuesday’s Volkskrant. 

‘We aim to eventually allow consumers to calculate their own holiday footprint via an app or website,’ ANVR spokesman Gerben Hardeman told the paper. ‘We are still a long way off that. But we are now working with a group of travel firms to determine how we can best inform consumers about what we know already.’ 

By helping consumers to realise the impact of their holiday on the environment, holidaymakers can ‘make a responsible choice’, he said. 

Currently, airline passengers can pay extra to offset the cost to the climate of their journey. The amounts vary from €10 to €100, depending on the way the potential damage is calculated by different airlines. 

The system used by the ANVR has been developed by researchers at several hbo colleges and 10 travel firms. It is based on confidential information from airline manufacturers, airlines themselves and the hotel website Booking.com.

Dutch company launches plan for recycled plastic roads

DutchNews, September 17, 2015

An artist's impression of how the plastic roads would work

Dutch company KWS Infra is developing a new sort of road made from recycled plastic. This, the company says, will not only cut down on plastic waste but reduce CO2 output from road building and usage, and make roads more sustainable and safer. Esther O’Toole reports. 

An estimated eight billion tons of plastic is floating around in the oceans and 55% of our plastic waste is still incinerated. Innovative Dutch companies have been busy looking at feasible ways of fishing the plastic out of the sea and shipping it to shore. Now KWS Infra, part of the VolkerWessels construction group and the biggest road builder in the Netherlands, has come up with a plan to turn that kind of plastic waste into roads. 

The roads themselves would be made from prefab sections prepared offsite from 100% recycled plastic and brought en masse to the building site, with road markings and guard rails already in place. Being light weight and easy to transport they could take months off construction times. 

The fabric is thought to be more durable than asphalt and needs little or no maintenance, being weather proof and impervious to weeds. The other major advantage is that they are hollow allowing space for piping, electric cables and – another hot topic for VolkerWessels – internet connections. 

Internet 

VolkerWessels is now investing in multiple projects for urban renewal and connected city innovation, including placing internet receivers along roads, be they antennas and masts or embedded in street lights and wind turbines. Plastic roads fit into this picture perfectly. If the space inside the decking could also be used to house net connectors, losing reception in a tunnel would become a thing of the past. 

Driverless cars, cheap and affordable ones too, will be on the open market as early as next year. What benefits will be reaped from these innovative technologies when they begin to converge? With uninterrupted mobile internet connections along all main highways, a long commute could be set to become the most productive part of the day. 

No wonder then that VolkerWessels is not having trouble garnering interest for their projects. Rotterdam city council was the first to show interest in piloting the PlasticRoad, in early July. 

Interest 

Since then the company has had interest from cities all over the world and are looking to finalise partnerships with plastics and recycling experts soon, spokesman Anne Koudstaal told DutchNews.nl. The aim is to have a team in place by December and to run a feasibility pilot within three years.

‘We are feeling very positive about it,’ he said. ‘All the good reactions [to July’s announcement] are a huge boost for us and the idea. It makes it all seem so much more realisable.’ 

If all goes to plan, the roads themselves may in turn be recyclable. This would bring PlasticRoad completely in line with the ‘cradle to cradle’ notions of the circular economy being implemented by other innovative ideas such as The Ocean Clean Up Project and the Plastic Madonna art project. 

The Netherlands, despite being one of the smallest countries in the developed world by land mass, has one of the highest carbon footprints per capita; especially in relation to fossil fuel use and cement production. Cutting emissions related to road usage and building would seriously reduce that footprint. Especially when one considers that the road network in the country covers approximately 135,470 km and most of it is tarmacked.

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An impression of how the system might look. Photo: Ocean Cleanup

Earth lost 50% of its wildlife in the past 40 years, says WWF

Species across land, rivers and seas decimated as humans kill for food in unsustainable numbers and destroy habitats

See picture gallery of wild animals facing decline

The Guardian, Damian Carrington, Monday 29 September 2014

Rubbish dumped on the tundra outside llulissat in Greenland stand in stark contrast
 to icebergs behind from the Sermeq Kujullaq or llulissat Ice fjord – a Unesco world
heritage site. Photograph: Global Warming Images/WWF-Canon

The number of wild animals on Earth has halved in the past 40 years, according to a new analysis. Creatures across land, rivers and the seas are being decimated as humans kill them for food in unsustainable numbers, while polluting or destroying their habitats, the research by scientists at WWF and the Zoological Society of London found.

“If half the animals died in London zoo next week it would be front page news,” said Professor Ken Norris, ZSL’s director of science. “But that is happening in the great outdoors. This damage is not inevitable but a consequence of the way we choose to live.” He said nature, which provides food and clean water and air, was essential for human wellbeing.

“We have lost one half of the animal population and knowing this is driven by human consumption, this is clearly a call to arms and we must act now,” said Mike Barratt, director of science and policy at WWF. He said more of the Earth must be protected from development and deforestation, while food and energy had to be produced sustainably.

The steep decline of animal, fish and bird numbers was calculated by analysing 10,000 different populations, covering 3,000 species in total. This data was then, for the first time, used to create a representative “Living Planet Index” (LPI), reflecting the state of all 45,000 known vertebrates.

“We have all heard of the FTSE 100 index, but we have missed the ultimate indicator, the falling trend of species and ecosystems in the world,” said Professor Jonathan Baillie, ZSL’s director of conservation. “If we get [our response] right, we will have a safe and sustainable way of life for the future,” he said.

If not, he added, the overuse of resources would ultimately lead to conflicts. He said the LPI was an extremely robust indicator and had been adopted by UN’s internationally-agreed Convention on Biological Diversity as key insight into biodiversity.

A second index in the new Living Planet report calculates humanity’s “ecological footprint”, ie the scale at which it is using up natural resources. Currently, the global population is cutting down trees faster than they regrow, catching fish faster than the oceans can restock, pumping water from rivers and aquifers faster than rainfall can replenish them and emitting more climate-warming carbon dioxide than oceans and forests can absorb.

The report concludes that today’s average global rate of consumption would need 1.5 planet Earths to sustain it. But four planets would be required to sustain US levels of consumption, or 2.5 Earths to match UK consumption levels.

The fastest decline among the animal populations were found in freshwater ecosystems, where numbers have plummeted by 75% since 1970. “Rivers are the bottom of the system,” said Dave Tickner, WWF’s chief freshwater adviser. “Whatever happens on the land, it all ends up in the rivers.” For example, he said, tens of billions of tonnes of effluent are dumped in the Ganges in India every year.

As well as pollution, dams and the increasing abstraction of water damage freshwater systems. There are more than 45,000 major dams – 15m or higher – around the world. “These slice rivers up into a thousand pieces,” Tickner said, preventing the healthy flow of water. While population has risen fourfold in the last century, water use has gone up sevenfold. “We are living thirstier and thirstier lives,” he said.

But while freshwater species such as the European eel and the hellbender salamander in the US have crashed, recoveries have also been seen. Otters were near extinct in England but thanks to conservation efforts now live in every county.

The number of animals living on the land has fallen by 40% since 1970. From forest elephants in central Africa, where poaching rates now exceed birth rates, to the Hoolock gibbon in Bangladesh and European snakes like the meadow and asp vipers, destruction of habitat has seen populations tumble. But again intensive conservation effort can turn declines around, as has happened with tigers in Nepal.

Marine animal populations have also fallen by 40% overall, with turtles suffering in particular. Hunting, the destruction of nesting grounds and getting drowned in fishing nets have seen turtle numbers fall by 80%. Some birds have been heavily affected too. The number of grey partridges in the UK sank by 50% since 1970 due to the intensification of farming, while curlew sandpipers in Australia lost 80% of their number in the 20 years to 2005.

The biggest declines in animal numbers have been seen in low-income, developing nations, while conservation efforts in rich nations have seen small improvements overall. But the big declines in wildlife in rich nations had already occurred long before the new report’s baseline year of 1970 – the last wolf in the UK was shot in 1680.

Also, by importing food and other goods produced via habitat destruction in developing nations, rich nations are “outsourcing” wildlife decline to those countries, said Norris. For example, a third of all the products of deforestation such as timber, beef and soya were exported to the EU between 1990 and 2008.

David Nussbaum, chief executive of WWF-UK said: “The scale of the destruction highlighted in this report should be a wake-up call for us all. But 2015 – when the countries of the world are due to come together to agree on a new global climate agreement, as well as a set of sustainable development goals – presents us with a unique opportunity to reverse the trends.

“We all – politicians, businesses and people – have an interest, and a responsibility, to act to ensure we protect what we all value: a healthy future for both people and nature.”

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Airlines struggle to serve sustainability

Airlines around the world are trying to reduce their ecological footprint by serving locally-produced and sustainable food. While the trend appears to be growing, experts say more needs to be done.

Deutsche Welle, 3 Sep 2014

Consumer awareness and demand are driving the food industry in industrialized countries toward sustainability - locally sourced food and waste reduction are among the top trends for restaurants in 2014, according to a US restaurant association survey. Demand for regional and organic food continues to increase in Europe, including in Germany.

Despite ever more organic bistros sprouting up, it is still not standard practice to serve sustainable or locally-sourced food on airline flights. But this is starting to change.

"Increasingly, customers want to know where their food is from and how it's been sourced," explains Sinead Ferguson, a menu design manager for British Airways. "So we've embraced this."

Sustainability taking off

In the UK, one percent of all food transport is done by plane, but it accounts for 11 percent of carbon emissions, according to Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs statistics. By using food grown locally that doesn’t have to be flown to the airport before being served to passengers, airlines can reduce the amount of greenhouse gases produced.

Airline meals typically come with
plenty of packaging

Today, cookies served on British Airways flights come from an organic bakery located on the Scottish island of Mull. The fish, tea and coffee served are sustainably sourced, and the airline says its bottled water comes in packaging that is entirely renewable.

In October 2012, China Airlines began labeling food on flights from Taipei to Frankfurt with its respective carbon footprint, becoming the world’s first airline to do so. The carbon footprints are calculated by the Taiwan-based Industrial Technology Research Institute. Items such as the "Authentic Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup" for business class passengers and "Plain Omelette with Mini Sausage and Hash Brown" meal for economy class range from between 0.43 and 3.52 kilograms (one to 7.76 pounds) of equivalent carbon dioxide emissions per meal.

Another airline using sustainable food and beverages is KLM. "We want to set the standard for sustainable aviation," says Roel Verwiel from KLM. "Instead of getting the chicken [on our flights] from South America or Thailand, we've replaced that by locally-sourced chicken."

And Bobbie Egan from Alaska Airlines says that utensils on the US carrier's flights are compostable - and the airline's coffee mugs are made from recycled water bottles.

Coming back down to earth

But despite these projects, Simon Heppner - founder of the Sustainable Restaurant Association - says airlines still have a way to go before being truly sustainable in the food and drinks they serve.

He sees the main problem as the tight profit margins in the aviation industry, which make prioritizing sustainable food products and packaging a low priority. This is combined with the fact that airlines tend to tackle one issue of sustainability at a time.

"I think there have been lots of examples in the past couple of decades of airlines that have focused on a specific issue within sustainability," Heppner told DW. "But no one's looked at it holistically and said 'we want to push forward on all of these, and all at the same time.'"

KLM uses uses beef from "free cows"

Food waste is another issue, Heppner says. Due to international regulations, uneaten airline food and the containers they are in must be incinerated, used as fuel or disposed of in a landfill. This is done to avoid spread of nonnative animal or plant species that could harm local ecosystems.

"The reality is that everything you see on board is not able to be recycled," says Heppner.

Sharing sustainability

With the continued growth of worldwide air travel - airlines carried more than three billion passengers in 2013, according to the International Air Transport Association, with the according to the Carbon Neutral Company's roundtrip flight from Frankfurt to New York emitting more than a ton of carbon dioxide - British Airways' Ferguson says focus on sustainable food and drinks may increase in the future.

And, indeed, some German airlines are beginning to include sustainable food on their flights. Lufthansa's "Discover Slow Food" campaign, in cooperation with the sustainable food advocacy group Slow Food, served business class passengers on European flights local German specialties such as Diepholzer Moorschnucke, a breed of sheep from Lower Saxony.

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In Austria, heat is 'recycled' from the sewer

Yahoo – AFP, Simon Sturdee, 22 June 2014

Vast amounts of hot water from household appliances, businesses and factories
 gurgle down the drain every day, wasting not only H2O but also another precious
resource: heat energy. AFP Photo / Deshakalyan Chowdhury

Amstetten (Austria) (AFP) - Vast amounts of hot water from household appliances, businesses and factories gurgle down the drain every day, wasting not only H2O but also another precious resource: heat energy.

Not, however, in the Austrian town of Amstetten, where a pilot project by the local utility company is "recycling" this energy from a place where normally few dare to tread -- the sewer.

This it uses to heat 4,000 square metres (45,000 square feet) of buildings, or cool them in summer, allowing it to dispense entirely with gas and reduce its carbon footprint.

"Almost every week we get a visit from a different delegation coming to look," Robert Simmer, the enthusiastic boss of Stadtwerke Amstetten, told AFP as he showed off the project.

"There is a French delegation coming next week, and then a Spanish one ... We are starting to lack the resources, we need to beef up our personnel to handle all the tours we have to do."

Along a 42-metre (yard) stretch of sewer where the water temperature can reach 27 C (81 F), the firm has put in place a high-tech installation.

Robert Simmer is pictured in front of a heat pump on May 7, 2014 in Amstetten,

Austria (AFP Photo/Dieter Nagl)

Water running in pipes adjacent to -- but separated from -- the sewer is warmed by devices called heat exchangers that "suck" the warmth out.

This warmed water is then pumped to the nearby headquarters where a highly efficient heat pump fires the central heating system.

A clean advantage

"The water that is pumped over here is clean, there is no fecal matter. The equipment inside (the sewer) is also self-cleaning," Simmer said.

Even though extra electricity for the heat pump -- devices also used in fridges and freezers -- costs the firm 6,500 euros ($8,850) per year, the savings are substantial compared to what it used to spend on gas.

A model of a heat exchanger is pictured

at the municipal services on May 7,

 2014 in Amstetten, Austria (AFP Photo/

Dieter Nagl)

"We have invested 240,000 euros," Simmer said. "This should be recouped within around 11 years. With any other renewable energy source like solar power, it wouldn't be any sooner."

Amstetten's utility firm is lucky because a nearby paper factory pumps hot water into the sewer, making it warmer than normal.

In addition, the firm uses under-floor heating, which is more efficient than radiators on the walls.

But even in places without such advantages, the potential for the technology is substantial, said Florian Kretschmer from Vienna's University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU).

"The advantage from this technology is that you have a very regional resource, and waste water is always present," Kretschmer told AFP.

Other similar projects exist in Germany, and Austria's Alpine neighbour Switzerland is particularly advanced, with more than 200, and the potential is considerable, he said.

Weaning off fossil fuels

A study done by the BOKU and others estimates that between three and five percent of buildings in Austria could be heated using this technology, with larger buildings such as schools or office blocks particularly well-suited.

This doesn't sound a lot, Kretschmer admits, but combined with other "clean" technologies like solar and wind power, it can play a role in weaning Europe off fossil fuels.

Pipes at the US Army Corp's of Engineers

17th St. Outfall Canal in New Orleans blast

 water out of the lower areas of New Orleans

 and back into Lake Pontchartrain on August

27 2007 during a hurricane drill (AFP

Photo/Paul J. Richards)

"Of course this alone is not going to solve the world's energy problems," Kretschmer said. "But what we need in the future is a good mix (of ways to produce power), and energy from waste water can play a part in this."

One potential downside is the temperature of the sewer water might fall to such an extent that it would affect sewage treatment plants. But this would only happen if the technology was used on a very large scale.

"Sewage treatment plants are highly dependent on temperature. If the water going into the treatment plants is cooled, then this has a negative effect on the performance of the treatment plant," Kretschmer said.

As a result, the BOKU is investigating the possibility of extracting heat from cleaned water downstream of treatment plans.

"In fact that would even be positive, because it will cool the water a bit before it flows into rivers," Kretschmer said.

China to limit carbon emissions for first time

Absolute cap to come into effect, climate adviser says on the day after US announces ambitious carbon plan

theguardian.com, Adam Vaughan and Tania Branigan in Beijing,  Tuesday 3 June 2014

The sun is seen behind smoke billowing from a chimney of a heating
plant in Taiyuan, Shanxi province Photograph: Jon Woo/Reuters

China, the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitter, will limit its total emissions for the first time by the end of this decade, according to a top government advisor.

He Jiankun, chairman of China's Advisory Committee on Climate Change, told a conference in Beijing on Tuesday that an absolute cap on carbon emissions will be introduced.

"The government will use two ways to control CO2 emissions in the next five-year plan, by intensity and an absolute cap," Reuters reported He as saying. Though not a government official, He is a high level advisor.

However, Jiankun later in the day appear to row back on the comments. "What I said today was my personal view. The opinions expressed at the workshop were only meant for academic studies. What I said does not represent the Chinese government or any organisation," he told Reuters.

While environmentalists broadly welcomed his initial remarks, they cautioned that it was far from clear at what level the cap would be set and said it needed to be enforceable.

China's emissions have risen dramatically in the last two decades, overtaking those from the US – the previous biggest producer – in 2006. Although the average Chinese person's carbon footprint is still much lower than the average American's, it is catching up, and is now on a par with the average European's.

He's remarks come just a day after the Obama administration implemented tough new rules to cut carbon emissions from power plants 30% by 2030.

“The timing is very auspicious,” said Frank Jotzo, an expert on the economics and policy of climate change at Australian National University and a lead author on the fifth assessment report from the IPCC, the UN’s climate science panel.

Jotzo, who is attending the conference in Beijing, added: “Globally I think we are in a much better situation than we were leading into the [major UN climate change talks] Copenhagen summit in 2009. One and a half years out from the Paris climate conference, where a new agreement is to be struck, we very likely have some coordination behind the scenes and some competition for leadership on the issue.”

But he cautioned: “The announcement of intent of an absolute target doesn’t tell us anything substantive....[On the US side] we have a policy for the electricity sector but not an overall national number.”

China set its first ever carbon targets in 2009, in the run-up to the Copenhagen summit, which was attended by Obama, Gordon Brown, Angela Merkel and other world leaders but ended in a weak deal with non-binding targets. The previous target was for a cut of emissions relative to its economic growth, by 40-45% by 2020, compared to 2005 levels, meaning absolute carbon emissions could still increase as China's economy grew.

But the new cap will be the first time that the country, which has been plagued by pollution problems in large part due to the burning of carbon-intensive coal, has promised to limit absolute emissions. Officials have not yet put a figure on what level the cap will be.

He told Reuters that the country's emissions were likely to peak at around 11bn tonnes CO2 equivalent – up from 7-9.5bn tonnes CO2e now – by 2030.

The move is likely to be welcomed by Christiana Figueres, the executive secretary of the UN climate secretariat, who oversees long-running efforts to reach an international deal on climate change. The Copenhagen meeting, but countries have agreed to reach a new deal next year at a blockbuster summit in Paris. The UN climate negotiations resume on Wednesday in Bonn.

Doug Parr, Greenpeace UK's chief scientist, said that the move by China, so shortly after the US announcement, showed "momentum" in the climate talks process.

“In the last 24 hours we’ve had two major announcements from China and the US which send a powerful signal to other world leaders ahead of crucial climate talks later this year. The Chinese government has already set out ambitious plans to cut the country’s reliance on coal – an additional cap on CO2 suggests the country’s leaders are serious about tackling their emission problem," he said.

Li Shuo, climate and energy campaigner for Greenpeace in China, said a carbon cap was a “positive and natural step forward” following the adoption of a cap on energy use, announced in 2011.

“The signal He Jiankun delivered, if it does represent the government view, is a positive note. But we need to see a number and we need some clarification,” he said. “The key battle we lost with the energy cap is that it’s aspirational and not attached to administrative consequences. That makes the seriousness of the target questionable.”

The overall figure needed to be broken down into regional targets, with officials evaluated on their success in meeting them, to be effective, he argued. He also warned that it would be a “climate disaster” if China’s emissions did not peak until 2030.

Wu Changhua, greater China director of the Climate Group, said the comments should be seen in the context of China’s pilot carbon trading schemes. Many people were keen to see a swift move to the establishment of a national mechanism, he said, while others thought that in the meantime there should be an expansion and linking up of existing regional platforms.

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Sustainability delivers Unilever €380m in cost savings since 2008

DutchNews.nl, Monday 28 April 2014

Earth 2017 - Sustainable Strategies

Food to detergent group Unilever said on Monday it had 'avoided costs' of €350m since 2008 by reducing raw material usage and introducing water, waste and energy efficiency measures.

In addition, a new packaging technique using plastic injected with gas bubbles had the potential to save 27,000 tonnes of plastic when fully rolled out.

Unilever launched a 'sustainable living plan' three years ago to try to expand sustainability throughout the company.

Agricultural products

'We've learned that sustainability drives business growth and a much deeper connection with our employees and consumers,' Unilever chief executive Paul Polman said in a statement.

The aim of the plan is to halve the 'environmental footprint' of Unilever's products by 2020.

Almost half the agricultural raw materials used by Unilever now come from sustainable sources, compared with 14% in 2010, the company said.

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Nordic ferries go gas-powered

BBC News, Malcolm Brabant, Stockholm, 11 May 2013

The Viking Grace is the first in a series of new green passenger ferries

Related Stories

• EU tightens sulphur law for ships

The Finnish flag is fiercely clacking at the stern as the Viking Grace carves through spring ice, past scores of small islands on the route between Stockholm in Sweden and Turku in Finland.

A maritime revolution is taking place in this narrow waterway and its archipelago of hundreds of small islands. The Viking Grace, a brand new cruise ferry, is fuelled entirely by liquefied natural gas (LNG) and is the first of a new generation of green passenger ships.

"It's very important for us at Viking Lines to be a pioneer and save our environment," says Captain Magnus Thornroos on the ship's wide bridge.

Down in the bowels of the ship, the engines are running on 100% gas, although they are capable of using old-fashioned diesel as a back-up propellant if necessary.

"LNG is the cleanest of the fossil fuels we have on Earth," says First Engineer Victor Gingsjoe.

"Compared to running on diesel oils, the particle matter that we release into the atmosphere is virtually nothing. The sulphur oxide emissions are practically nothing. And also we can reduce the CO2 [carbon dioxide] by up to 30%."

Dirty sea

The Bergensfjord will also be
fuelled by LNG

But Dr Kaare Press-Kristensen, an air pollution expert from Denmark's Ecocouncil, adds a caveat.

"We know that LNG can significantly reduce harmful substances," she says. "However, if LNG escapes the engines without being burned, it will contribute significantly to global warming as well."

Viking Lines say its ship is fitted with the latest technology for monitoring the ship's systems.

By using LNG, the vessel is complying with new emission controls that come into effect in the Baltic Sea in 2015. Similar rules will begin simultaneously in the North Sea and along the east and west coasts of North America.

It is hoped the changes will make a significant difference to the ecology of the Baltic Sea, which is heavily polluted, in part from Russian ships coming from the east.

The bottom of the sea is said to be dying and the reason it is so dirty is that it is almost entirely enclosed by land and does not have a flow of fresh water to flush out the grime.

On deck, it is easy to see how still are the waters of the Baltic. As far as the eye can see in the Swedish part of the archipelago, the sea is covered in ice.

'Huge cost'

The project's supporters say the new regulations will not just benefit nature, but also public health.

"In Europe, we know that about 50,000 premature deaths are caused from air pollution from shipping," says Dr Presse-Kristensen.

"And the cost to society is about 55bn euros [£45bn; $72bn] every year, so it's a huge cost."

Inside the Viking Grace, a Bruce Springsteen video is entertaining passengers in the music bar.

On deck it is cold, and taking the air is Mohammed Hassan, from London.

"I have a carbon footprint," he says. "And I think it's being reduced because technically it's being driven by gas and it's very environmentally friendly as well. So I would say it's fantastic. I am being responsible by using less carbon."

Two new ferries, the Stavangerfjord and the Bergensfjord, both entirely powered by liquid gas, are currently being completed at Rissa, Norway, and they are due to start sailing between Denmark and Norway this summer for Fjord Line.

As is often the case when it comes to green technology, the Nordic countries are showing the way.

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Green energy revolution in the Gulf?

Deutsche Welle, 21 February 2013

Climate conference in Qatar, IRENA headquarters in Abu Dhabi – the oil-rich countries in the Gulf are getting into renewable energy. But is it just greenwashing or the beginnings of a post-oil era?

In the middle of a desert area 140 kilometers outside the oil centre Abu Dhabi, row on row of curved mirrors sparkle in the blazing sun. SHAMS1, the first Concentrated Solar Power or CSP plant in the Middle East will soon provide up to 20,000 homes with climate-friendly power.

Oil-rich Abu Dhabi aims to cover seven percent of its energy needs with renewables by 2020. Neighbouring Dubai has a target of five percent. Qatar, the world's biggest exporter of liquid petroleum gas (lpg) aims at 20 percent by 2030, and the oil giant Saudi Arabia aims to cover almost a third of its consumption with renewables by 2032.

What lies behind the green energy interest?

Renewables make sense for the Gulf,
says Wouters

The International Renewable Energies Agency (IRENA), set up two years ago, has its headquarters in Abu Dhabi. The decision to locate there was a "very significant one", Deputy Director-General Frank Wouters told Deutsche Welle. He argues that using solar power in the Gulf region makes plain economic sense. For a country like Saudi Arabia, he says, it is much cheaper than burning expensive diesel at more than 100 dollars a barrel to produce electricity.

Allan Walker agrees. The Executive Director of Masdar Investment in Abu Dhabi also insists that it is not just greenwashing when oil producers invest in renewables. "We are not doing this unless we make a return on our investments", said Walker, who has also worked in financing oil, gas and coal-fired power projects.

Improving  on a  giant ecological footprint

The Gulf states are amongst the countries with the world's highest per-capita CO2 emissions. "We are a young nation, in growth mode, and that is energy intensive", says Bader Al Lamki, Director of the "Clean Energy Business Unit" at Masdar. He also cites the very harsh climatic conditions as a cause of the country's high energy consumption for air-conditioning and the desalination of sea water.

Bader Al Lamki sees future potential
in solar

Now, Abu Dhabi is introducing energy-saving measures and planning to broaden its energy mix to include renewables.

"This country has a legacy of being a world energy player. It has been supplying hydrocarbon resources to the world for the last four to five decades, and this is one of the cornerstones of why we are stepping into renewables", Al Lamki told Deutsche Welle during a tour of the SHAMS1 CSP plant, which is being built jointly by Masdar, Total and the Spanish company Abengoa Solar.

Abu Dhabi also believes the new sector will create jobs and education opportunities for its population, said Al Lamke.

Solar modules are still rare on the rooftops of Abu Dhabi. Photovoltaics is not yet attractive to individual consumers, according to German energy expert Simon Breuniger, who has worked with Masdar for four years. He says the authorities are now considering a feed-in-tariff along the lines of the one which helped solar power make a breakthrough in Germany, but which may be cut back due to rising costs as ever more households invest in solar modules.

Masdar City in Abu Dhabi will rely entirely on renewable energy sources

Green investments abroad

Renewables are not just of interest to Abu Dhabi for domestic power generation. The expanding international market provides a promising investment opportunity. Masdar is involved in building state-of-the-art solar plants in Spain and owns 20 percent of the "London Array", the world's biggest offshore wind farm, off the coast of England.

This funding power could be the wealthy region's most important contribution to the global expansion of renewable energies, says Laurence Tubiana, head of the Paris-based Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI). Presenting the UN Network for Sustainable Development Solutions at Sustainability Week in Abu Dhabi in January, Tubiana said even if the transition in the region itself was a slow one, the Gulf states' willingness to invest in innovative technologies which would only make a return in the longer term would help renewables to become competitive.

Climate change – in more ways than one?

Tubiana has been involved in the UN climate negotiations since 1997. She says she has observed a change in the stance of some Gulf countries, like Qatar and Abu Dhabi. She believes they have recognised the need to take action.

EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard agrees there has been progress in the region. During an energy summit in Abu Dhabi in January, she told DW that the progress was encouraging. "Due to the need to diversify their economies, due to the lack of water and the climate change are actually beginning to experience,  they are not only talking about renewables. They are doing more research, demonstration projects, large-scale investments, efficiency measures."

She added that while the countries "are definitely not there yet", the region was very different to just a few years ago. 

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"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version) 

“…  4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much….”

"2013 - What Now ?" – Jan 6, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Text version) - New

“… New ideas are things you never thought of. These ideas will be given to you so you will have answers to the most profound questions that your societies have had since you were born. Inventions will bring clean water to every Human on the planet, cheaply and everywhere. Inventions will give you power, cheaply and everywhere. These ideas will wipe out all of the reasons you now have for pollution, and when you look back on it, you'll go, "This solution was always there. Why didn't we think of that? Why didn't we do this sooner?" Because it wasn't time and you were not ready. You hadn't planted the seeds and you were still battling the old energy, deciding whether you were going to terminate yourselves before 2012. Now you didn't…. and now you didn't.

It's funny, what you ponder about, and what your sociologists consider the "great current problems of mankind", for your new ideas will simply eliminate the very concepts of the questions just as they did in the past. Do you remember? Two hundred years ago, the predictions of sociologists said that you would run out of food, since there wasn't enough land to sustain a greater population. Then you discovered crop rotation and fertilizer. Suddenly, each plot of land could produce many times what it could before. Do you remember the predictions that you would run out of wood to heat your homes? Probably not. That was before electricity. It goes on and on.

So today's puzzles are just as quaint, as you will see. (1)How do you strengthen the power grids of your great nations so that they are not vulnerable to failure or don't require massive infrastructure improvement expenditures? Because cold is coming, and you are going to need more power. (2) What can you do about pollution? (3) What about world overpopulation? Some experts will tell you that a pandemic will be the answer; nature [Gaia] will kill off about one-third of the earth's population. The best minds of the century ponder these puzzles and tell you that you are headed for real problems. You have heard these things all your life.

Let me ask you this. (1) What if you could eliminate the power grid altogether? You can and will. (2) What if pollution-creating sources simply go away, due to new ideas and invention, and the environment starts to self-correct? (3) Overpopulation? You assume that humanity will continue to have children at an exponential rate since they are stupid and can't help themselves. This, dear ones, is a consciousness and education issue, and that is going to change. Imagine a zero growth attribute of many countries - something that will be common. Did you notice that some of your children today are actually starting to ponder if they should have any children at all? What a concept! ….”

"Update on Current Events" – Jul 23, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: The Humanization of God, Gaia, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Benevolent Design, Financial Institutes (Recession, System to Change ...), Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Nuclear Power Revealed, Geothermal Power, Hydro Power, Drinking Water from Seawater, No need for Oil as Much, Middle East in Peace, Persia/Iran Uprising, Muhammad, Israel, DNA, Two Dictators to fall soon, Africa, China, (Old) Souls, Species to go, Whales to Humans, Global Unity,..... etc.)