Aside from the 20 or so clean energy policy and politics stories we’ve published in the past week, here are a few more from around the interwebs. Enjoy! (or not, depending on the story.)
UK Solar Subsidies
- The UK government is being urged to delay deep solar subsidy cuts as new figures reveal that only 2 MW of solar were installed last week, less than half the amount installed at that time a year before. “Weekly government figures revealed that solar firms installed an average of 2MW each week since the start of April, marking a sharp decline from the 4.8MW average capacity installed in the same weeks last year.”
Investment
- Clean energy investment fell off a cliff in the first quarter of 2012 in the EU and the US due to policy uncertainty, according to a recent Bloomberg New Energy Finance report. “After clocking up a record in 2011, new financial investment in clean energy in first quarter of 2012 was the weakest since the depths of the financial crisis in Q1 2009.”
- The EU has committed to put €50 million into a clean energy development program for developing countries. This is “part of an ambitious UN plan to provide sustainable energy for all by 2030.”
Jobs
- The “Green Economy” could be the solution to Europe’s current jobs crisis, EU leaders are proposing. “Over 20 million new jobs could be created in Europe’s green economy over the next decade if EU member states adopt Brussels’ new jobs package and make low-carbon industries central to their national employment plans.”
Carbon Taxes & Trading
- Guangzhou is expected to launch its Carbon Emissions Exchange this June, the President of Guangzhou Exchange has announced. “The group is currently making preparations to launch a voluntary emissions trading mechanism which will be launch this year. The voluntary emissions trading will be replaced by mandatory quota-based trading from next year.”
- China is set to start taxing air travel. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has said that revenue from this “will be used for aviation fuel efficiency and to cut CO2 emissions from aviation.” The EU is investigating whether it thinks this is sufficient to exempt China’s airlines from the EU’s carbon reduction laws for airlines.
Image: solar panels & money via Shutterstock
Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!
Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era — Podcast:
I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps — gasp — grow. So ...
