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The future of coal-fired power plants across Europe was thrown into doubt following advice today from a European Court of Justice (ECJ) advocate general. Advocate-general Juliane Kokott stated that environmental permits for three Dutch coal-fired power plants might have been given unlawfully by the Dutch government because the country is exceeding agreed pollution limits. The advice could halt construction of three new coal-fired power plants there depending on whether it is accepted by the ECJ. A decision is expected in early 2011. If the ECJ ratifies the advice, it will set a precedent for all EU countries. It could halt plans for industrial plants still requiring permits in countries at, or near thresholds for certain pollutants produced by power stations or other major industrial polluters [1]. France, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and the United Kingdom are expected to exceed pollution ceilings set by Brussels. Greenpeace Netherlands started the legal action along with the Dutch Society for Nature and Environment and individual local opponents. Greenpeace EU climate and energy policy manager Joris den Blanken said: "Coal is a strongly polluting fossil fuel and a disaster for air quality, the health of Europeans and our climate. We need power and industrial goods, but not at the expense of our health when there are plenty of alternatives at hand. We are delighted the advocate general has been strict in her advice to uphold the law on this point."

Source: Greenpeace, Image: Freefoto.com

Image: www.freefoto.com

News reports indicate World Bank President Robert Zoellick is coming to Cancun tomorrow to announce the establishment of a multi-million dollar fund to promote the creation of carbon markets in developing countries. Friends of the Earth U.S. Climate Campaigner Karen Orenstein had the following response: "Carbon markets are an irreparably flawed means of addressing climate change. They are unreliable and subject to fraud, and they open the door to offset loopholes that undermine environmental integrity. They expand Wall Street influence, and they further entrench the economic arrangements that facilitate the North's over-consumption and are causing the climate crisis in the first place. The World Bank's decision to establish this fund is yet another blemish on its already-soiled social and environmental record. World Bank coal funding hit a record high of $4.4 billion in 2010, and the Bank has a long history of making decisions that have had tremendously harmful impacts on poor countries." The World Bank carbon market fund will be discussed at the Friends of the Earth International press conference in the Moon Palace tomorrow afternoon. (It will also be available online here: http://webcast.cc2010.mx/) For more information about the World Bank and climate change, see: http://www.foe.org/international-work/world-bank-background.

Source: Friends of the Earth, Image: Freefoto.com