News
EurosolarNL launches new blog
November 1, 2022 COP27 will begin next week. The 2030 deadline to halve emissions is drawing ever closer. Meanwhile countries have not yet brought their national plans in line with the Paris Agreement. In the ‘Discussion‘ tab, you can find the blog posts relating to COP27.
The Dutch Green Industrial Policy Toolbox - Insights from a recent OECD report
February 28, 2022 Dutch industrial policy aims to steer the energy transition with two main policy instruments: carbon pricing and support for technology development (e.g. with the SDE++). The OECD points out that exempting energy-intensive users from paying their share is unfair and may jeopardize their own competitiveness in the future. The policies hinder investment in green hydrogen, a long term solution, but promote investment in CCS, which has significant hurdles both in the long and short term. The OECD calculates that these policies award CCS developers, who are some of the most energy-intensive companies, windfall profits.
The 2021/22 European Solar Prize Award
December 3, 2021 The Dutch Eurosolar Section virtually hosted the European Solar Prize Award. As host country, the city of Amsterdam was highlighted through a short video about oldest secular building in the city, De Waag and it’s historical relevance to social transformation. Amsterdam’s deputy mayor, Marieke van Doorninck, opened the event with a welcome and an introduction to two projects in Amsterdam’s South East: Energy Lab Southeast with a local Biodigester project, and the Taibah-mosque. The mosque has replaced it’s use of natural gas with electric heating, and is on it’s way to becoming totally energy neutral (while continuing to generously serve the community). Energie Samen, the umbrella organization for energy cooperatives in the Netherlands, and sponsor for this event, also gave a short presentation.
The winners of this year’s European Solar Prize Award were, according to »category«:
»Cities, Municipalities, Districts, Public Utilities« : The City of Paris (FR) and Berliner Stadtwerke (DE)
»Solar Architecture and Urban Planning«: Bildungscampus Seestadt Asperin (AT)
»Industrial and commercial enterprises or farmers« : SUSI Partners (CH)
»Local or regional associations/organizations« : Thuisbaas (NL)
»Owners and Operators of Renewable Energy Facilities« : Ørsted (DK)
»Transport and Mobility« : Magglingen funicular railroad (CH)
»Education and Vocational Training« : Eurac Research (IT) and EFdeN (RO)
»One World« Solafrica (CH)
Bas Eickhout (member of the EU parliament) closed the award ceremony with an informative and inspiring word.
Watch the event: on YouTube or on EUROSOLAR’s website.
EUROSOLAR calls for action with ten-point paper – “The Regenerative Europe Decade”
November 2, 2021 Coinciding with the UN COP26 climate change conference, EUROSOLAR announces a ten-point paper calling for a Regenerative Europe Decade. See press release from EUROSOLAR, Bonn.
The EUROSOLAR Delegates Assembly, with the representatives of its 14 national sections, calls for a Regenerative Europe Decade. Because the atmospheric CO2 concentration has already increased far in excess of stable levels, measures are needed to go beyond the European Green Deal to rapidly transform Europe into an emission-negative and climate-positive continent. EUROSOLAR outlines the measures in its “Call for Action 2021” published today.
Today’s CO2 atmospheric concentration, ~420 ppm, is 1.5 times the historically stable value of 280 ppm and is continuing to rise. Political discourse which calls for ‘climate neutrality’at this level is irresponsible. We are starting to see, and will continue to experience, major disruptions in our planetary climate. Despite decades of mounting evidence, the leadership of the G20 countries has been insufficient to safeguard the interests of their constituents and to secure the basis of existence of our societies.
In the ten-point paper, EUROSOLAR calls for the mobilization of a climate defense budget to finance a phase-out of fossil fuels and a transformation to 100% renewables within less than ten years. It calls for implementation of a European and global climate migration management planning, as billions of people will seek new homes due to escalating global heating. Besides agricultural and soil management transformations, it demands the commitment of industry to carbon removal and material product binding processes.