Climate change policy

The prospect of a reduction on the special consumption tax on heating fuel, by between 15 and 20 percent, as is being examined by the government, would spark illicit trade, a sector authority has warned.

The absence of an international regime on climate change has enabled Turkey to enjoy a free ride on a development policy that is careless about emissions, according to an activist. ‘The collapse of the EU process is also the reason why Turkey gives less emphasis to climate change,’ says Ümit Şahin.

The United Nations seized World Environment Day Thursday to demand action on climate change to protect small island states threatened by rising seas, drought and floods.
      
"We have very, very alarming news from science," UN climate chief Christiana Figueres told reporters in Bonn at a new round of talks on global warming.
      

President Barack Obama's plan to cut the carbon emissions of US power plants by up to 30 percent will leave America far short of its current pledges at UN climate talks, a study said Wednesday.
      
The United States promised in 2010 to reduce greenhouse gases by 17 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels.
      

European Union governments are unlikely to reach a breakthrough this month on a proposal to make supply more flexible in the world’s biggest carbon market, according to Greece, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency.

Bulgaria and Romania were the EU countries who posted highest reduction of carbon emissions in 2013, shows an Eurostat survey. 

According to the data, in 2013 they decreased in 22 member states. 

In Bulgaria the drop was 10.2% and in Romania – 14.6%. The average for the EU was -2.5%.

Industrialized nations' greenhouse gas emissions fell by 1.3 percent in 2012, led by a U.S. decline to the lowest in almost two decades with a shift to natural gas from dirtier coal, official statistics show.