Putin leaves Kazakhstan without deal to build nuclear plant
A visit last week by Vladimir Putin and a Kremlin entourage to Astana, Kazakhstan sought in part to put Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear corporation, on good footing with local officials.
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Publish date: November 19, 2015
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A joint letter from the Platform for Electro-mobility, an alliance of organisations across industries of which Bellona is a member, was sent to Vice-President Šefčovič and Commissioners Bulc and Arias Cañete, responsible for Energy Union, transport, climate and energy respectively. The main points are addressed below and the letter can be read in its totality here:
Letter_electrification of transport in energy union
The electrification of light vehicles such as bicycles and powered two-wheelers, cars, vans, trucks and buses, and also the further electrification of railways, will help Member States to meet greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for 2030. Electric transport is a true low carbon alternative to reduce local air pollution in cities, as called for by the Covenant of Mayors. A shift to electro-mobility could halve emissions in urban centres could be halved by 2050 and zero-emission urban logistics could be attained by 2030. Furthermore, electrification is essential to achieve the Transport White Paper’s objective of banning combustion engine cars from urban areas by 2050.
Electro-mobility will also contribute to Europe’s energy security. Investments in electro-mobility will reduce Europe’s €1 billion per day total energy import bill and create additional demand for sustainable domestically-generated electricity, expanding renewable electricity use in transport and achieving more energy efficiency. Electric cars are expected to make an important contribution to the use and the optimisation of renewable energy sources (such as wind at night or solar during the day). True zero carbon mobility will make Europe’s economy more energy secure.
Electro-mobility also drives growth and makes Europe more competitive. It encourages innovation in the European automotive and battery supply chain, and stimulates jobs – 1.08 Mio in 2030, and 2.35 Mio new jobs in 2050 are expected from a shift to electrification of road transport.
To realise these benefits and exploit the full potential of electro-mobility the Platform of Electro-mobility calls on the European Commission to:
The decarbonisation of transport through electro-mobility is a key component of delivering the Energy Union goals. The upcoming European communication on the decarbonisation of transport announced for early 2016 provides the ideal opportunity to make detailed proposals in the areas identified above to help deliver the Energy Union’s ambitions.
A visit last week by Vladimir Putin and a Kremlin entourage to Astana, Kazakhstan sought in part to put Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear corporation, on good footing with local officials.
Russia is formally withdrawing from a landmark environmental agreement that channeled billions in international funding to secure the Soviet nuclear legacy, leaving undone some of the most radioactively dangerous projects and burning one more bridge of potential cooperation with the West.
While Moscow pushes ahead with major oil, gas and mining projects in the Arctic—bringing more pollution to the fragile region—the spoils of these undertakings are sold to fuel Russia’s war economy, Bellona’s Ksenia Vakhrusheva told a side event at the COP 29, now underway in Baku, Azerbaijan.
A survey of events in the field of nuclear and radiation safety relating to Russia and Ukraine.