News
When Empty Promises Won’t Do – Why regulation is needed to end built-in obsolescence of printers
Printers have grown to become an archetype of today’s throwaway culture, in spite of over a decade of EU-endorsed industry commitments to make them more sustainable, If the European Commission is to stand by its promise to curb the built-in obsolescence of our everyday tech, it must fall out of love with manufacturers’ promises. The […]
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Climate neutral clouds? The journey towards sustainable and energy efficient data centres – New briefing
ECOS and Coolproducts experts analyse the state of EU policies targeting the environmental footprint of data centres, a sector with a growing impact on our planet. Data centres are the factories of the digital world. As digital services move into the cloud, their energy consumption moves into data centres, and their environmental impact becomes invisible […]
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Out of gas: EU is €70 billion away from making renewable heating affordable for all – New analysis
The answer to soaring gas prices lies in renewable heating, a technology that is ready to replace gas boilers but only affordable in 8 EU countries. To enable consumers to overcome the upfront cost for switching to clean heating, EU governments will need to increase subsidies by €70 billion, a new Coolproducts study reveals. The […]
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Ecodesign and energy labelling are essential in the ‘green’ transition – but the EU must fund them
While EU politicians make bold speeches about climate action, behind the scenes the European Commission is actively defunding two of the most successful environmental policies to date: Ecodesign and Energy Labelling. Together, both policies have been improving the energy efficiency of our home appliances and IT devices for over 20 years by creating incentives for […]
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The EU could be about to greenlight polluting gas boilers well into the 2050s
Despite ambitious EU targets for carbon neutrality by 2050, and a 55% reduction target by 2030, the European Commission’s draft revision to ecodesign regulation [1] would allow the continued sale and installation of new gas boilers in the EU for at least the next decade. Emissions from space and water heating represent a significant portion […]
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Delays in ecodesign threaten EU climate targets and cost citizens billions – New analysis
Environmental organisations call on the European Commission to allocate the appropriate resources to ecodesign and energy labelling policies. Delays in ecodesign and energy labelling policies are estimated to cost consumers 40 billion euro by 2030. The European Commission is dragging its feet in the development of ecodesign and energy labelling rules for products, mainly due […]
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New, revised energy labels for lamps and light bulbs as of 1 September
Lamps and other light sources will display new energy labels as of Wednesday. The revised labels will mean clearer information on energy consumption and efficiency of lamps. Energy labels for light bulbs and lamps are changing. Light products will be labelled using an A-G scale, replacing the previous A+++ to E. Revamped labels are expected to […]
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EU Commission leaves 5G base stations out of ecodesign – a missed chance to reduce energy consumption of telecommunications
The European Commission has ruled out applying ecodesign to base stations for mobile telecommunication networks as part of its new Ecodesign and Energy Labelling Working Plan 2020-2024. In the wake of the expansion of 5G, the EU decided not to limit the energy consumption of base stations for communication networks, even when millions of them […]
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EU Governments keep fueling dirty heating – New analysis
Ahead of ‘Fit for 55’, a new analysis shows that 16 out of 27 member states are still financing fossil fuel heating, despite calls to phase out gas boilers by 2025 to achieve EU climate neutrality goals. These dirty subsidies cripple the deployment of clean heating technologies such as heat pumps and solar thermal devices. […]
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EU Commission paralysis delays phase-out of fossil fuel boilers
The European Commission’s lack of ambition in phasing out fossil fuel heating systems is jeopardising frontrunners and rewarding laggards, endangering everyone’s climate ambition. Read our full analysis in our background briefing Time is running out for the European Union to decarbonise the heating sector, which accounts for 12% of total CO2 emissions in Europe. So […]
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