Scotland tops EU emissions reduction table

It was revealed this week that Scotland has topped the European league table for emissions reductions.  Between 1990-2010, emissions in Scotland fell by 22.8% which is the largest reduction among the EU-15 Member States.
SSN

CleanWeb or CleanTech

An interesting prospective from @SunilPaul showing the growth of CleanWeb as opposed to CleanTech.  An excellent ending quote from @Montymetzger.

"Your mobile phone has more processing power that all of NASA in 1969. NASA launched a man to the moon.  We launch a bird into pigs."

Clean Informatics

Green Investment Bank HQ to be Edinburgh

Great news for Scotland and Edinburgh, GIB to have HQ in Edinburgh with an office in London.
BBC News

131 Years of Global Warming in 26 seconds - video from NASA

The Carbon Bubble will Burst

A very interesting thought pieice on  how the carbon bubble will burst and how this will cause economic uncertainty.
"For the last 20 years, politicians and regulators were asleep at the wheel, allowing a bubble to inflate which when it burst pushed the global economy to the brink of collapse. Less than four years on and there is ample evidence precisely the same thing is happening again, only this time it is both the global economy and the global ecosystem that could collapse. Investors, pension funds, politicians, and business leaders all need to wake up to these risks, and fast."  James Murray Editor of Business Green.
Business Green

Scottish Government Announces New Sustainable Transport Funding Package

The Scottish Government last week announced details of a new four year sustainable transport fund. The Future Transport Fund is a four year £50 million funding package targeted at improving cycling infrastructure, shifting freight from road to rail and supporting low carbon vehicles.

Sustainable Scotland Network

The Edinburgh Partnership has been allocated £207,000 to encourage the use of green transport amongst its community planning partners. A host of new electric cars are set to be added to public sector agencies’ fleets across Edinburgh as funding is secured from the Scottish Government to promote sustainable travel.
City of Edinburgh

Scotland to have £7bn grid upgrade to ease renewables deployment

UK energy regulator Ofgem has outlined plans for a £7bn upgrade of Scotland’s grid to ease the integration of renewables on to the electricity network.
Ofgem has launched a consultation on proposals that include a £2.9bn of investment with up to a further £4.7bn available over the course of the price control period, out to 2021.

New Energy World Network

CER's drop to all time low of €3.32/tC

The price of UN-backed carbon offsets hit a record low of €3.32 a tonne this morning, as fears over the eurozone crisis and on-going concerns about the long-term validity of some certified emission reduction (CER) credits prompted a sell off. Prices fell by over six per cent before rallying slightly to over €3.60.
Business Green

EU Meets 2010 Renewables Target

The EU achieved its 2010 renewable electricity target of 21% of electricity consumption according to latest analysis by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA).

If renewable electricity production in the EU continued to grow at the same rate as it did from 2005 to 2010 it would account for 36.4% of electricity in 2020 and 51.6% in 2030.

EWEA

Scottish Government Publish Land Use Strategy Action Plan

Following the publication of the Land Use Strategy in March 2011, the Scottish Government have published an accompanying Land Use Strategy Action Plan on 21 December 2011.

A number of short- and long-term milestones have been identified in the Action Plan to deliver the 13 Proposals detailed in the Strategy. These include:

• Development of an Agri-Renewables Strategy in summer 2012
• Submission of advice from the Woodland Expansion Advisory Group in June 2012
• Water environment mapping by SEPA during 2012
• Creation of an Environmental Crime Taskforce in spring 2012
• The identification of pilot areas for peatland restoration

Sustainable-Scotland.net  |  Scottish Government's Land Use Strategy Action Plan

Scottish Government Deal with Masdar

The First Minister Alex Salmond will travel to the Middle East next week to sign a ground-breaking deal on renewables.Mr Salmond will sign Scotland up to a landmark agreement to develop tangible green energy products with the world's leading innovator, Masdar, based in Abu Dhabi.  This will focus on Universtiy research towards renewables.

Scottish Government