WWF Greece and WWF Germany met with the KfW Bank Group, in order to hand over the petition signed by 15,000 citizens calling the development bank to refrain from financing a new coal plant by PPC: “Ptolemaida V” in Northern Greece. WWF and KfW also had the opportunity to discuss the prospects for a truly sustainable Greek economy, focusing on the necessary shift to a clean, innovative and competitive energy model. During the meeting, WWF Greece’s Director Demetres Karavellas discussed with Dr Norbert Kloppenburg, member of the Executive Board of KfW, the need for influential financial institutions to divest from coal and lead the world towards a clean energy path. According to WWF Greece, Ptolemaida V is not a viable investment, since its true costs outweigh its stated benefits. Also present at the meeting were Mr Markus Scheer, Member of the Management Board of KfW IPEX-Bank, and Eberhard Brandes, Director of WWF Germany.

A sharp rise in the number of Spaniards living in the risk of energy poverty was revealed in a report published by the Spanish Association of Environmental Sciences (ACA). According to the report, between 2010 and 2012 the number of households that need to spend a disproportionate amount of their income on electricity and gas bills increased to 16,6% from 12.4% in 2010. In real life, these percentages translate to 7 million people who live in unhealthy conditions of homes that are very cold in the winter and very hot in the summer. Coupled with mold and humidity and electricity cuts, due to unpaid bills, energy poverty is a social crisis resulting from rising energy prices (roughly 60% since 2007) and decreasing incomes. An annual 7,200 deaths can now be attributed to energy poverty in Spain, in accordance with the measurement system established by the World Health Organisation.

The recent decision of an Italian chief prosecutor to order the closure of two power stations at Vado Ligure is probably the first legal case for manslaughter and environmental damage opening against the coal-fired energy industry. On another case, the Court of Rovigo sentenced two former CEOs of ENEL to a two-year prison term for the severe pollution derived by the operations of the Porto Tolle Power Plant. Environmental groups WWF Italy, Greenpeace and Legambiente have expressed hope that this judgment will signal the end of coal conversion projects in Porto Tolle. However, the impact of these important legal developments on the energy policies of EU member states is yet to be seen.

Since the wake of the economic crisis, debt ridden states are promoting heavy footprint investments in resource extraction as the spearhead of their economic recovery strategies. Iconic and ecologically sensitive areas in the Mediterranean are at serious risk, due to oil and gas projects in Spain, Italy and Greece. Particularly at risk are the Canary Islands, Pantelleria in Sicily and the area of the Hellenic Trench, extending from Southern Crete to the Ionian Sea. 

A new round of violent clashes between anti-gold protesters and police forces over the gold mining investment at Skouries, Chalkidiki, leaves between 2 and 7 policemen (accounts vary) and one protester injured. Three protesters were detained, on charges of resistance to and assault against the Police forces.

The draft “Law on Free Legal Aid”, which was presented to the Cabinet on 21 February by Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, excludes environmental groups from the right to seek free legal aid. Specifically, par. 3 of art. 2 of the draft law, which revises Law 1/1996 on the same subject, now excludes charitable associations (associaciones de utilidad pública) defending environmental causes from the right to legal aid without having to prove insufficient means for litigation.

Rome, March 2013 - Soaring public debt, languishing economy, growing inequality, no jobs for a growing number of people, especially young: this is what most of the Mediterranean countries are facing today. In Southern Europe as well as in Northern Africa and east Mediterranean. Old recipes dominate government responses: promote investment in natural resources exploitation, even if this implies reducing environmental safeguards, even if the trade-off is losing ecosystem services whose contribution to wellbeing does not appear in economic accounts.

Brussels, January 2013 - You remember the environmentalist’s mantra from well over a decade ago – governments should be taxing public “bads” like pollution and resource wastage and not over-relying on raising revenues from public “goods” like jobs and income. This was part of our strategy to get the environmental agenda onto the desks of Prime Ministers and Ministers of Finance and not to stay stuck in the environmental ministries.

In its March 5th review on the progress of the EU’s 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, the European Commission comes up with a series of extraordinary conclusions. At the diagnostic level, the Commission acknowledges for the first time the role of resource depletion and growing energy demand in aggravating the crisis:
“A  first  critical  step  in  designing  a  post-crisis  growth  strategy  for  the  EU  is  to understand clearly the full impact of the crisis and to share a common diagnosis of where Europe stands. In so doing, it is also important to bear in mind that seeking  to  return  to  the  growth  "model"  of  the  previous  decade  would  be  both  illusory  and harmful: fiscal imbalances;  real  estate bubbles; widening  social inequalities; lack of sufficient entrepreneurship and innovation; dysfunctional financial systems; growing  energy  dependency;  multiple  pressures  on  the  use  of  resources  and  the environment; sharp increase in unemployment; weaknesses in education and training systems;  underperforming  public  administrations  –  these  were  issues  that  could  be observed but that were not resolved in the past. They contributed to the collapse of parts of our economies when the full crisis hit.”

The policy debates held at the Environment and Energy Councils on 3 and 4 March were dominated by concerns about energy prices and the competitiveness of Europe’s industry. The states comprising the Visegrad Group, joined by Bulgaria and Romania, remained rock-steady against renewable and energy efficiency targets and called for further lowering of the 40% reduction target or postponing any decision on this. The Member States favouring three more ambitious and nationally binding targets (primarily Germany, Austria, Denmark, Portugal) chose to lower their expectations. They sided with the UK’s compromise proposal, which sets a 27% target for renewables, on the condition that this would never be translated into national RES targets. The Greek Presidency appeared to aim at feeding the European Council of 20-12 March with only broad guidelines, thus essentially postponing tough decisions indefinitely.