March 04, 2020
Bart Somers, Flemish Minister for Internal Affairs (Open Vld), wants to push local governments to enable the roll-out of at least one EV charging point per 200 inhabitants by 2025. For 6,5 million Flemish, that would mean 34 000 public charging points. It’s not pep talk only, but he also promises them financial support out […]
March 04, 2020
This year, the city of Mechelen will invest almost two million euros in shared cars, cargo bikes, and scooters. “We want to become the forerunner when it comes to shared mobility.” As of April, inhabitants of the city who turn in their license plate will be rewarded with a mobility budget. Mechelen already is one […]
March 03, 2020
For the first time, the emission standards for fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide in Brussels did not exceed the norms set by the European Union. Some measuring stations even met the recommendations of the World Health Organisation (WHO), which are much stricter than those of the EU and which are followed by Brussels. With […]
March 03, 2020
German carmaker Volkswagen will no longer develop new cars on compressed natural gas (CNG). According to its Chief of Development, Frank Welsch, in the German newspaper Handelsblatt, it’s more trouble than it’s worth as sales figures are low. VW expects them not to increase dramatically anymore and wants to bet entirely on the electric car. […]
February 28, 2020
Oil giant Shell, the Dutch gas network company Gasunie and Groningen Seaports want to build a mega-offshore wind farm and a mega-hydrogen plant in the north of the country. The electricity will be used to mass-produce hydrogen by electrolysis. Hydrogen can be transported throughout north-west Europe using the obsolete Groningen natural gas infrastructure. The NortH2 […]
February 27, 2020
Dutch tourists coming to Ghent by car will no longer have to register when entering the Low-Emission Zone (LEZ). They’ll soon be checked automatically. Any car – even brand new Euro 6 or electric – that did not register will be fined €150 for the time being. This is a bizarre situation, especially since this […]
February 27, 2020
Belgian retailer group, Colruyt, and gas grid manager, Fluxys, have given the green light for the plans to build together a 25 MW hydrogen electrolysis plant in the harbor of Zeebrugge. The new project called HyoffWind will use ‘green’ electricity from the offshore windmill parks to produce ‘green’ hydrogen. Initially, the initiators hesitated between Antwerp […]
February 27, 2020
The government of the Brussels-Capital Region intends to charge motorists traveling in the capital. The rate, applicable to all, should vary according to the time of the day. That’s what the newspaper Le Soir writes. The ‘alternative’ plan came about because the discussions with both the Flemish and the Walloon Regions about the introduction of […]
February 27, 2020
Does the Norwegian constitution allow drilling for oil in the Barents Sea? That is the question that Greenpeace Norway and the climate youngsters of ‘Natur og Ungdom’ (Nature and Youth) want to have answered by the Norwegian Supreme Court. That is why they’ve taken the matter to the highest jurisdictional authority of the country. They […]
February 27, 2020
The Japanese electronics concern, Panasonic, wants to bring its cooperation with electric car manufacturer Tesla to an end, some anonymous sources reported to the press agency, Bloomberg. Both companies already have a joint solar panel factory for two years now, but it still isn’t running on full capacity. Loss-making departments According to the sources, Panasonic […]
February 26, 2020
Unlike gasoline or diesel at the pump, the price of charging at a public charge point is rarely clear to consumers. As a result, they could be surprised by the amount of the invoice at the end of the month. For example, there is sometimes a ‘starting rate’ for charging and the rates of different […]
February 25, 2020
European companies are expected to double the share of their low-carbon investments if Europe wants to reach its 2050 carbon-neutral target. This is evident from figures collected by the specialist association Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a British NGO that collects information on the climate behavior of businesses. According to the annual report of CDP, some […]
February 25, 2020
Zity will replace Moov’in as the Renault-backed free-floating car-sharing service in Paris. The French car manufacturer is changing its partner in the French capital and chooses the Spanish company Ferrovial to deploy its car-sharing service. Moov’in Paris, the electric car rental service set up in 2018 with the car rental company Ada, is, therefore, ceasing […]
February 24, 2020
Tesla has restarted the cutting of trees on a 92-hectare site where the first European plant of the electric car manufacturer will be built. Several environmental organizations had opposed the felling of trees, but the German judge swept away the objections. First European plant The American carmaker is in a hurry to get its colossal […]
February 20, 2020
In 2021 a new touring car championship will start with strictly electric cars. This year the Pure ETCR championship will be presented during promo events and in the context of existing WTCR races. This was officially presented in Paris last week. Another Formula E? After the Formula E championship for single-seater electric cars, there will […]
February 20, 2020
The City of Brussels signed on Wednesday with Bertrand Piccard, the Solar Impulse pilot with two world tours under his belt, a collaboration agreement for its ecological transition. The agreement aims at providing concrete and immediate responses to the climate emergency. It is valid for a renewable period of two years, but the partnership is […]
February 20, 2020
Plug-in hybrids that don’t fulfill the new requirements are much more expensive this year. The fiscal advantage of those lease-cars dwindles: halving of the fiscal deduction percentage, up to four times more benefit of all nature. Fraud use of these so-called ‘fake’ plug-in hybrids has caused new, more stringent requirements for PHEVs to comply with. […]
February 20, 2020
The breakout of the coronavirus that is slowing down economic activities in China made CO2 emissions in the country go down with one quarter. That is the conclusion of a study by climate organization Carbon brief. The effect, however, would only be temporary. Drastic measures After the coronavirus broke out around the Chinese New Year […]
February 19, 2020
Fine particles in the air are not only an unseen killer, but the polluted air also affects our mental capacities. Pollution can cause infections in the lungs, which in turn can lead to infections in our brains. Chess players More and more studies show that fine particles in the air can harm our intellectual capacities. […]
February 18, 2020
For the first time, the cost of damaging nature is calculated in money. Conclusion? The extinction of species and the erosion of natural habitat is extremely expensive. Without any urgent measures, the world economy will have to sacrifice thousands of billions of euros in the coming thirty years to save the planet. Macroeconomic costs The […]
February 18, 2020
The Ghent Low-Emission Zone (LEZ) will be extended during this legislature. However, when and in which districts will be thoroughly examined the next few years. The Ghent majority parties confirmed this on Monday during the municipal council. There will be a phased, zonally introduction, and a study to evaluate the social impact and flanking measures […]
February 18, 2020
The felling of a part of the German forest in which Tesla’s European giga-factory is to be located has been halted. The environmental movement ‘Grüne Liga Brandenburg’ has gone to court because Tesla already felled trees without a building permit. Some 300 hectares of trees have to be cut down for the factory. Many German […]
February 17, 2020
According to a study from PA Consulting, the thirteen carmakers active in Europe will have to pay 14 billion euros in CO2 fines in 2021. PA adds that to keep emissions under the 95 g/km limit, EV sales should increase by 1 280%. 2020 is already an exciting year for the automotive sector. Most major […]
February 17, 2020
The Belgian shipping company, CMB, is planning to have a first large container ship operational on hydrogen. “We have to do something about the climate,” the company says. Turning point Shipping is a polluting sector. More than 95% of the 60 000 vessels that transport 12 billion tons of goods overseas use polluting fuel oil. […]
February 14, 2020
Electricity production through solar panels and windmills grew 20% in Belgium in 2019. The jump from 9,7 TWh in 2018 to 11,5 TWh in 2019 is mostly due to wind energy. Those are the results published by the Regulating Commission for Electricity and Gaz (CREG). Solar and wind energy installations represented 16% of the total […]
February 13, 2020
The ‘floating hydrogen and solar energy lab’ of French captain and sailor Victorien Erussard, the Energy Observer, is ready to start next week the second phase of its six-year round-the-world tour with zero emissions. The goal is to show the world the technologies that can make a difference in the battle to fight climate change. […]
February 13, 2020
A motion by the opposition party, Vlaams Belang, to introduce a ‘standstill’ in the area of low-emission zones (LEZ) did not obtain a majority in the Flemish Parliament on Wednesday. However, the doubts about the sense/nonsense of the LEZ also seem to be growing among parties. For example, sp.a also wants the LEZ not to […]
February 12, 2020
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), global CO2 emissions from energy production barely increased last year. Emissions amounted to 33,3 billion tons in 2019 compared to 33,1 billion in 2018. And this despite the growth of the world economy by 2,9%. Total CO2 emissions are still going up, though. The stagnation is mainly because […]
February 11, 2020
According to economist Philippe Defeyt, chief of the Sustainable Development Institute (IDD), at the current rate, Belgium will fail to reach its -35% CO2 reduction objective for 2030 even if all cars become hybrid and electric. The economist calls for drastic measures in the form of a global speed reduction and intelligent kilometer tax. Belgium […]
February 11, 2020
The Belgian national train company, NMBS/SNCB, has asked itself what its passengers do on the train. In a survey conducted by the research company Ipsos, the majority of the 1.000 commuters surveyed (83%) said that train travel allowed them to do things they could not do when commuting by car. Not surprisingly, half of them […]
February 11, 2020
Flemish authorities are turning a deaf ear to the warnings of the climate experts that were selected to assist the Flemish government in working out a Climate and Energy Plan. Hardly one year ago, former Minister for the Environment, Koen Van den Heuvel (CD&V), decided to make up a team of scientific experts to support […]
February 10, 2020
The new emissions inventory 2017 shows that in Antwerp CO2 emissions have been reduced by 23,5% compared to the 2005 reference year. The largest profits were made by the industry outside the port area (-48%) and households (-38%). With this, Antwerp meets the climate target of a 20% reduction before the 2020 deadline. Nevertheless, the […]
February 07, 2020
The green buses of German FlixBus on the Dortmund-London line, which also runs through Belgium, are equipped with solar panels. The initiative fits in a green test project of FlixMobility, the German company behind the FlixBuses that cross Europe at low prices. Wafer-thin solar mats from the British tech company, Trailar, have to charge the […]
February 06, 2020
Approximately half of Belgians would change their online buying behavior if 5 euros had to be paid to return orders. This is the conclusion of a study commissioned by the Federal Minister of Economy and Consumers, Nathalie Muylle (CD&V). “We think climate awareness is important, but returns are massive.” Established habit Returning parcels free of […]
February 05, 2020
Several young companies like German Sono Motors and Dutch Lightyear are fighting for the breakthrough of the so-called solar car, but is there a future for this type of car? A year ago, the Dutch startup showed the Lightyear One, an electric car with a 600 km range that recharges itself with solar panels and […]
February 05, 2020
In spite of the 70% planned increase in air traffic, the British air industry sets an ambitious zero carbon target for 2050. This plan is being driven by the organization Sustainable Aviation. Cleaner airplanes and carbon offset are the cornerstones of the project. After the ‘flygskam’ or ‘flying shame’ emerging from the Scandinavian countries, the […]
February 05, 2020
The British publicity watchdog, Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), condemns Ryanair for a campaign, in which the Irish budget airline had positioned itself in the market as “the company with the lowest emissions in Europe”. Lowest emissions? “Everybody knows Ryanair has the lowest tariffs,” the campaign said, “but did you know it’s also the airline with […]
February 05, 2020
Britain is going to ban – ‘subject to consultation’ – the sale of new gasoline and diesel cars, even hybrids by 2035. That’s five years earlier than initially planned and it can be even sooner, if feasible. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the UK has a responsibility to compensate for the historic CO2 emissions of […]
February 04, 2020
In its annual report on Belgium, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) sees room for a CO2 tax and road-pricing. In this context, OECD senior executive, Angel Gurria, points to international tendencies whereby countries reduce corporation tax and tax on labor because that is good for stimulating economic growth, but, on the other […]
February 04, 2020
According to a study by Swiss business bank UBS, a price war on plug-in hybrids (PHEV) is a serious risk in 2020, as car manufacturers will struggle to comply by the end of 2020 with the EU’s stricter CO2 emission rules. The bank’s analyst warns that carmakers “will likely need to push PHEVs to their […]
February 03, 2020
Running an engine on iron power, turning it into rust by burning it and extracting a load of energy out of it this way to move a vessel with 15.000 containers; it is theoretically possible. And the good thing is: there are no CO2 emissions, and the rust can be captured and turned into iron […]
February 03, 2020
Belgian drivers are devoted to their cars, even for short distances. That is the conclusion of the mobility barometer of traffic safety institute Vias. The organization also launches a call “to cover short distances on foot or by bike”. “It’s a small effort, but it has a large effect, also on one’s health.” Mobility behavior […]
January 31, 2020
The Ghent blogger and cycling enthusiast Dries Robberechts has created a map of Ghent that shows the travel time between various locations. The maps, taken from Google maps, allows the user to calculate what his time savings will be if he travels the route by bicycle instead of by car. With this project, Robbrechts follows […]
January 30, 2020
Norway’s biggest oil company and energy supplier, Equinor, the former Statoil, wants to cut CO2 emissions together with other companies in the oil and gas industry with 40% by 2030 to become CO2-neutral by 2050. Equinor claims that by doing this, in 2030, Norway’s total CO2 emissions will be reduced by 10% already. That’s to […]
January 30, 2020
Mobility Club VAB advises Belgian cities and municipalities not to introduce new low-emission zones (LEZ), for the time being. There are still too many uncertainties, they say. Measurements taken by the Flemish Environment Agency show that the impact on air quality is not convincing, especially when it comes to nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Consequently, according to […]
January 28, 2020
The Port of Ostend and two partners, dredger DEME and the Flemisch investment trust PMV are planning a 50 MW ‘green’ hydrogen plant by 2022, to result in a 300 MW installation by 2025. ‘Hyport’ is to convert surplus electricity of offshore wind parks into hydrogen both for energy backup as for transport use. The […]
January 28, 2020
“If we want to keep the existing nuclear power plants open after 2020, it is time for action,” warns the CEO of Electrabel, Philippe Van Troeye, in a press release, in which he presents the 2020 plans for the company. Environmental effects As of 2021, it will become very difficult to keep them open due […]
January 28, 2020
Last year, the city of Antwerp caught 20.774 Belgian drivers for entering the low-emission zone with an unauthorized vehicle. The number of infringers more than halved compared to the 42.455 the year before. In 2019, only 0,25% of all Belgian cars were offenders. Whether the number of foreign infringers has reduced is not clear. Fewer […]
January 27, 2020
Can e-fuels or synthetic fuels based on ‘green hydrogen’ keep the combustion engine alive in the future? In theory, it looks promising, but being twice as expensive as fossil fuels today, it will be hard to find an economical business case. The petrochemical industry is very much in favor: it is a question of survival […]
January 27, 2020
The city of Mechelen is planning to introduce a shared cargo bike platform by the end of this year. The first two e-models were launched on Saturday for a test ride at the presentation of a regional vegetal garden on the median strip. Mobility solution The Cargoroo bikes, as they are called, will be parked […]
January 24, 2020
On Thursday European Union published the ranking of the Member States for renewable energy. Especially the traditional industrial countries in the core of Europe – the Benelux, France, Germany, the UK, but also Poland – are failing well. A serious leap is still needed there to achieve the EU’s 2020 targets: a 20% share of […]
January 24, 2020
Flemish investment company GIMV is participating in a Canadian nuclear fusion project which, if it ever succeeds, could be a solution to the climate problem. Harnessing nuclear fusion could provide a nearly inexhaustible source of energy, the holy grail of the energy world. Nuclear fusion is the process that makes the sunburn. When the nuclei […]
January 23, 2020
ACEA, the association of 16 European car manufacturers, predicts that the European car market will recede by 2,0% in 2020. This will be the first time in seven years. “We stand before a shrinking market,” says newly appointed ACEA president, Mike Manley, also the CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobile. In 2019, the market still progressed […]
January 23, 2020
The German daughters of Dutch Gasunie and grid operator Tennet are joining forces with gas manager Thyssengas to build a 100 MW power-to-gas hydrogen plant in Diele, near the Dutch border. When operational in 2022, it should be one of Germany’s biggest hydrogen operations. The location for the so-called ‘Element Eins’ project was chosen after […]
January 22, 2020
Children’s toy retailer ToyChamp is going to use trucks to supply batteries to its stores in Belgium and the Netherlands. The batteries will be charged by the solar panel park on the roof of its distribution center in Genk. Flemish Minister for Energy, Zuhal Demir (N-VA), was invited to the presentation of the project. Demir […]
January 22, 2020
Belgian Interparking is equipping several major Brussels’ underground parking garages with air cleaning technology that makes the air actually better than outdoors. The system filters 7.500 cubic meters of air per hour, removing up to 70% of particles. Interparking is Europe’s third-largest parking operator active in nine countries and one of the first to invest […]
January 21, 2020
The arrival of the Nightjet, the night train connection between Brussels and Vienna, has aroused a lot of interest. There is not only the mobility and ecological aspect, according to action groups, but the climate impact of such a night train is also eleven times smaller than the impact of the same journey by plane. […]
January 21, 2020
European Commissioner Johannes Hahn estimates that the European ‘Green Deal’ will cost at least 1.000 billion euros. He now has to convince the European finance ministers of the ‘Sustainable Europe Investment Plan’. That plan is the investment structure of the ‘Green Deal’ that was proposed in December. To achieve its main goal, a climate-neutral Europe […]
January 20, 2020
From the 500.000 visitors to the Brussels Motor Show, there were a lot more interested in purchasing a car than last year. One-third of them showed interest in electrified vehicles, especially hybrids and plug-in hybrids, less in pure electric cars. Hesitation The full-electric car still scares a lot of people. It’s still too expensive for […]
January 20, 2020
More than fifteen years after the demise of the Donauwalzer, a night train has been running between Vienna and Brussels since Sunday. For 2020, a round trip is planned twice a week, from Brussels on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The Austrian railway company ÖBB, which stands for Österreichischen Bundesbahnen, is running the route, in cooperation with […]
