Tag Archives: editing
EU Urges Investment Drive In African Farm Sector
Wed Apr 10, 2013 10:03am EDT * Farm chief calls on EU business to boost investments * Europe keen to match rising interest from China , Brazil * Investments must respect local land rights, Ciolos says BRUSSELS, April 10 (Reuters) – European companies must invest more in Africa’s agricultural sector to keep pace with growing interest from countries such as China and Brazil , the bloc’s top farm official said on Wednesday. Home to a quarter of the world’s fertile land but only 10 percent of global agricultural output, the potential for growth in Africa’s farming sector is clear, EU farm commissioner Dacian Ciolos said. But poor transport and storage infrastructure are among the factors holding back growth in the sector, which not only threatens the continent’s food security, but also presents an opportunity for private investment from Europe and elsewhere. “This shows the importance for the European Union to be present in the food security debate and not turn its back on Africa, just as other parts of the world become more and more interested,” Ciolos told a workshop in Brussels on African farm investment. Greater private investment in African agriculture would also help fill the gap created by declining European public support for the sector, which has fallen by half since the 1980s, Ciolos said. “Agriculture has been side-lined in favour of other political and economic priorities, despite the challenge of global hunger,” he said. Rising global food demand in recent years has driven an increase in large-scale land investments in sub-Saharan Africa by foreign companies, which have been accused of “land-grabbing” with the help of compliant African officials. Ciolos said governments and companies had a shared responsibility to ensure that any investment respected the rights of local communities to access land, and urged a focus on investing in small farmers which account for 70 percent of total output. (Reporting by Georgina MacDougall; Editing by Charlie Dunmore and Helen Massy-Beresford) Continue reading
E.ON Urges Action To Save European Carbon Trade: Paper
FRANKFURT | Sat Apr 27, 2013 12:31pm EDT (Reuters) – Europe’s effort to protect the climate faces “a decade of stagnation” without quick action to save the EU carbon market, the chief executive of German utility E.ON said in a newspaper interview on Saturday. “European emissions trading is a patient on his deathbed; either we cure him quickly, or he dies,” Johannes Teyssen told Sueddeutsche Zeitung. “And that would have unpredictable negative consequences, not only for climate protection,” he added. The European Parliament on April 16 rejected a Commission proposal to temporarily remove some of the oversupply that has overwhelmed the $148 billion market for permits to emit carbon dioxide, sending the market to a record low and raising questions about its survival. As a result, investors will find it no longer profitable to put their money into clean technologies, Teyssen said. “Money will start flowing back into an economic activity that should have been consigned to history,” he added. While utility companies supported the Commission proposal, energy intensive industries opposed it, arguing it would push up energy costs when Europe is already suffering a competitive disadvantage compared with the United States, which has benefited from abundant supplies of shale gas. In the interview Teyssen denied that his stance was in part aimed at making energy from brown coal , such as that produced by rival utility RWE, more expensive. “Nonsense. It’s not about hurting the competition. We are all having a hard enough time as it is,” he said. “Carbon dioxide must have a price and if emissions trading is irreparable, then we will need a tax that countries can introduce on their own,” he said, adding that the UK was already moving in this direction. (Reporting by Jonathan Gould; Editing by Greg Mahlich) Continue reading
