EmBuild Final Conference – Energy Efficient Buildings: Plan. Invest. Renovate!

National renovation strategies are necessary and useful, but how can their impact be strengthened? As most public buildings are under the jurisdiction of regional and local administrative levels, it is the combined action of Europe´s cities, towns and communes that can really make a change. EmBuild conference will show best practices of local plans, highlighting aspects that may stimulate similar actions by others and presenting tools that can facilitate the formulation of these plans. The EU-funded

Major investors call for oil and gas groups to step up climate action

Sixty investors have urged the oil and gas sector to do more on climate change and “take responsibility” for its carbon emissions. In a letter to the Financial Times, the group of companies, including Aberdeen Standard Investments, BNP Paribas Asset Management and HSBC said the industry should be more transparent about how it intends to support a low-carbon future. “The case for action on climate change is clear…we strongly encourage all companies in the sector to clarify how they see their future

African cities commit to reaching zero carbon by 2050

At a meeting in Nigeria this week, nine African cities pledged to cut carbon emissions to zero within the next three decades. The cities include major Africa capitals and urban centres, such as Accra, Cape Town, Lagos, and Johannesburg. Adjei Sowah, Mayor of Accra, said his city’s citizens are “becoming more aware” of the impacts of climate change. Despite all countries in Africa having signed the Paris climate agreement, progress has been slow in making the transition to a low-carbon economy. Much

Cities light the way with new manifesto

Representatives of the twelve smart city ‘lighthouse’ projects, recipients of a combined investment of €263.84 million euro from the European Commission, met to sign a manifesto of cooperation. This manifesto is an agreement between cities to significantly change the smart city market place. The occasion of the signing was a day of workshops where the 76 cities across Europe that are direct beneficiaries of these projects discussed their progress in enhancing energy efficiency, and collaborating

66% of EU cities have plans in place to combat climate change

New analysis has shown mixed results for the performance of European cities in their efforts to tackle the looming challenge of climate change. A large research team, including universities in the UK, Netherlands, Italy, and France, collated data on climate plans from 885 cities within the European Union. The study, which the academics called “the most comprehensive survey to date”, reflects the extent to which Europe has taken climate action seriously. Across the 28 member states of the EU, 66 percent

"With the Green Solutions Awards, Eiffage has shown that Cestas is much more than a photovoltaic power plant", Dena Villanueva, Eiffage

In 2017, Eiffage participated in the Green Solutions Awards, an international competition for sustainable solutions organized each year by Construction21. Awarded the French User's choice, Cestas is one of Europe's best-performing photovoltaic plants. For Dena Villanueva, Eiffage Group Sustainable Development and Innovation Officer, the competition highlighted the company's sustainable development approach from design to end-of-life, beyond energy performance. Discover this extraordinary project

Global green economy could create 24 million jobs by 2030

New markets in sustainability and clean energy could lead to a worldwide jobs boom, according to the UN’s labour agency. The urgent need to reduce our dependence on carbon and resource intensive industries will also create more winners than losers: 24 million new green jobs will offset an estimated 6 million job losses. The International Labour Organization (ILO), which represents workers, governments and employers across 189 member states, produced the analysis into the global transition to sustainable

Fresh boost to industrial symbiosis in Europe

EIT Climate-KIC has teamed up with five partners to increase the uptake of industrial symbiosis across Europe, building partnerships between industries to use production wastes as resources. The new platform, SCALER, (SCALing European Resources with industrial symbiosis) has been launched to help industrial sites work together to share and reuse resources and raw materials, with the objective of reducing industrial emissions and boosting economic prosperity. The European process industry (for materials

UK Government proposes new law to create ‘Green Brexit’

The UK Government is seeking to reassure the public that environmental laws will not be watered down after the country’s planned departure from the European Union. To do so, it is proposing to introduce legislation to maintain key environmental protections and create a new public body to hold the government to account. A consultation to develop the Environmental Principles and Governance Bill was launched last week. This will hopefully lead to a set of policies to inform sustainability in areas,

Climate shocks causing severe hunger in Africa’s Sahel region

Humanitarian relief workers have warned that about 5 million people in Africa's Sahel region are suffering from severe hunger and are in urgent need of livelihood assistance. The affected countries include Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad. Those in need of food assistance are expected to deplete their food reserves by the end of the month. The hunger and food shortage has been brought on by unusual weather conditions that limited crop growth. In normal weather conditions food supplies usually last