The European Parliament has cancelled plans to send a delegation to the UN's Rio+20 summit on sustainable development taking place in June, saying the costs are too prohibitive. “The huge increase in the estimated cost of attending the summit is simply not justifiable, especially at a time when many Europeans are faced with economic hardship,” said Matthias Groote, the chairman of the environment committee. --Dave Keating, European Voice, 9 May 2012
During the Ri+20 negotiations the G77 group has been the main force behind the push-back. Many within the group are concerned that the “green economy” is merely a ploy by northern countries to jump start their own troubled economies through technology and service transfers that the south would require in order to participate in the “green economy”. For the G77 poverty eradication has proven more important than the green economy. Implicit within the G77′s arguments during negotiations is their belief that job growth and development, which are essential for poverty eradication, are more important than the environmental policies that the UN is championing. --Timothy Herrmann, Turtle Bay and Beyond, 7 May 2012
Households will be made to pay for wind farms and nuclear power stations under a new Energy Bill that will force up electricity bills by around £200 a year. The new laws revealed in the Queen's Speech will bring in a raft of costly subsidies to help energy companies pay for “green” electricity. British households will have to cover the cost of the subsidies through their energy bills over the next 20 years. Ed Miliband, the leader of the Labour Party, accused the Government of making “an energy bill with nothing to help people struggling to make ends meet”. Businesses are also concerned that rising electricity bills could make the recession worse by forcing them to move abroad. --Rowena Mason , The Daily Telegraph, 9 May 2012
The Global Warming Policy Foundation warns that the government's overarching aim to reduce the economic burden on British families and UK businesses is threatened by the significant costs of its planned electricity market proposals. At the heart of the Queen’s Speech was a government promise to introduce policies that aim to help families and businesses. But this is seriously undermined by its commitment to introduce an Energy Bill that will significantly increase the cost of electricity. "These green energy measures will be both economically damaging and very unpopular when their cost becomes apparent in rising energy bills," said Dr Benny Peiser, the director of the Global Warming Policy Foundation. --The Global Warming Policy Foundation, 10 May 2012
Badly designed policies like the Carbon Price Floor, the Green Deal and the smart meter rollout could cost the consumer billions, it is imperative that this is not allowed to happen with electricity market reform. People tell us rising energy costs are their biggest financial worry so the Government should also take the opportunity to reform energy tariffs and make them simple and fair. --Richard Lloyd, Executive director, Which?, 9 May 2012
US Senator Jeff Bingaman (Democrat, N.M.) introduced the Clean Energy Standard Act of 2012, which identifies natural gas and nuclear — along with renewable energy sources — as being “clean.” If that definition holds, then groups such as the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, and lots of others will be in the rather uncomfortable position of having to oppose Bingaman’s measure even though those very same groups regularly tout the need for more clean energy. --Robert Bryce, National Review, 9 May 2012
Deep-pocketed environmental groups are collecting millions of dollars from the federal agencies they regularly sue under a little-known federal law, and the government is not even keeping track of the payouts, according to two new studies. --Joshua Rhett Miller, Fox News, 8 May 2012
