Sir, Regarding ‘Industry chief: Biofuel from waste can reduce landfill‘: At last we hear some good news from an enterprising source. How welcoming to read such positive comments. The move from Finland is not an isolated one in Europe. I have also heard that GeneSyst teams in Europe will be starting work on several major [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Controversy mounts over EU biofuels fall-out‘: The Standing Committee of the Bern Convention (the Council of Europe Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats), worried that the increase of biofuel cropping systems may lead to cultivation escapes of invasive taxa with subsequent negative effects on native biological diversity, adopted advice [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘EU weighs proposals to break GMO deadlock‘: The process of GMO invasion in Europe can be clearly observed in articles and statements of public figures. More and more we are told that we have to deal with GMOs, that we have to submit to progress in science, that we have to do it [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Greens embrace enzymes in climate change fight‘: This is a serious issue and is much like that of genetically-modified organisms. Using enzymes to disrupt biomass is tantamount to opening up the proverbial ‘Pandora’s box”. You do not know the consequences and you do not know where it will end. It is all very [...]

Sir, The revision of the EU’s Animal Experiments Directive is reaching a critical point, with the EU Council meeting on 14 December to discuss the proposals Animal experimentation is an issue which attracts a great deal of public concern. A recent opinion survey in the UK, France, Germany, Sweden, Italy and the Czech Republic found [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Electric cars: On the road to greener transport?‘: When a crisis becomes an opportunity: roadmap for an e-mobility platform The economic crisis we witness today has everything to be considered as a catastrophe, signalling the end of an economic dream. It might however be a lot better to see the crisis as a [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Blair: Climate efforts no reason to give up cars‘: It would seem that Mr Blair is not only an expert on weapons of mass destruction (their ownership or lack thereof) but also energy policy, transport policy and indeed, climate change in general. In the case of cars, there is nothing inevitable about rising [...]

Sir, I am writing in response to the letter ‘Water needs politics, not techno-fixes‘ by Martin Pigeon of Corporate Europe Observatory, dated 4 May 2009. Commenting on Veolia Water’s calls for a ” low-water economy “, Mr. Pigeon suggests that Veolia’s views are driven only by commercial and short-term profit optimisation purposes, and that their [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Veolia calls for shift to ‘low-water economy‘: It is little wonder that Antoine Frérot wants to change the economics of the water business. Veolia Water, the biggest global water corporation in the world, is now confronted with a serious threat: as Corporate Europe Observatory noted in its report (‘Turning on the taps in [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘MEP: EU needs new mindset to end deforestation‘: While I applaud public measures to tackle deforestation and biodiversity loss in the EU, I think it is also important to consider the role that the private sector can play. Last December, Epson launched a new biodiversity initiative in the Gardunha mountains in central Portugal, [...]