Politics Homes 9th June 2017, The Nuclear Industry Association (NIA) has called on the next Government, whatever its formation, to return to business as quickly as possible, and resolve the key Euratom question for the nuclear sector to ensure a Brexit cliff edge for the industry is avoided.
Brexit is a key challenge for the nuclear sector and resolving the Euratom issue should be an immediate priority for incoming Ministers. The NIA recently launched a paper, setting out the priority areas for the negotiations with the European Commission to support the UK Government, should it decide to withdraw from Euratom as part of the Brexit process. https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/energy/nuclear-power/press-release/nuclear-industry-association/86549/nuclear-industry
June 12, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
politics, UK |
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Dozens of new cracks discovered at Belgian nuclear reactors https://www.rt.com/news/391826-belgium-nuclear-reactor-cracks/ 11 Jun, 2017 The latest ultrasonic inspections have detected a substantial number of new micro cracks in nuclear reactors at the Tihange and Doel power plants in Belgium since the last study conducted three years ago, Belgian and German media report.
At least 70 additional cracks were uncovered at the Tihange 2 nuclear reactor during an ultrasonic inspection in April of this year, Belga news agency reports. Some 300 new flaws have also allegedly been discovered at the Doel 3 reactor tank during a check last November, according to tagesschau.de.
Belgian Interior Minister, Jan Jambon, confirmed the micro fissures at Tihange 2 following a parliamentary inquiry posed by Green Group leader Jean-Marc Nollet, DW reports. The reported new cracks at Doel 3 have not yet been confirmed.
The cracks do not pose any danger to operations at the nuclear plants, says operator Engie-Electrabel, which carried out the inspections under instructions from the Belgian Atomic Regulatory Authority (FANC).
The operator said the new flaws were discovered due to a “different positioning of the ultrasound device.” Engie-Electrabel maintains that as long as cracks do not expand, they do not pose a danger to the reactor’s operations.
Branding Engie-Electrabel “irresponsible,” environmentalist group, Nucléaire Stop, has criticized the operator for still running Tihange 2 reactor despite a 2.22 percent increase in faults.
In February 2015, FANC said 3,149 cracks had been found at Tihange, while 13,047 were discovered at Doel. The operator must now submit additional analyzes of the situation by September.
Tihange lies only 60 kilometers (about 37 miles) from the German border, while Doel is 150 kilometers away, near Antwerp. Germans living in the area close to this border have been exerting pressure on the government to force Belgium to shut down the aging reactors.
June 12, 2017
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EUROPE, incidents |
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The Constitutional Court had earlier found that the 145 euro/gram tax on reactor refueling was illegal, obliging the government to pay a 6 billion euro ($6.8 billion) refund to the utilities EON, RWE and EnBW.
“The finance minister will assess the ruling and implement it, but first we should wait for that assessment and then Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble will make his proposals,” Merkel said. “I don’t think our main targets will be at risk.” (Reporting by Thomas Escritt; Editing by Madeline Chambers)
June 10, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
Germany, Legal, politics |
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German minister says court’s nuclear tax ruling is very irritating, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-nuclear-court-minister-idUSKBN18Y1RK?il=0, 8 June 17
German Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks said on Wednesday that a court ruling that declared Germany’s nuclear fuel tax illegal was a “colossal irritation”.
The ruling from the Constitutional Court raised the prospect of a 6 billion euro ($6.8 billion) refund to utilities at a time of strained balance sheets.
Hendricks, a member of the Social Democrats (SPD) – the junior partner in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition – said the 2009-2013 government, which was made up of Merkel’s conservatives and the Free Democrats (FDP), had caused “chaos” in nuclear policy.
“The fact that this bodge (of the previous government) is paying out for the nuclear power companies years later makes the Constitutional Court’s ruling a colossal irritation,” Hendricks said.
(Reporting by Markus Wacket; Writing by Michelle Martin; Editing by Madeline Chambers)
June 10, 2017
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Germany, Legal |
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Construction News 8th June 2017, Workers building the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant in Somerset can look forward to higher bonuses after the Unite union and the plant’s employers agreed a fresh pay deal for staff on the £18bn project.
STRIKES by workers building the new Hinkley Point nuclear power plant were“taken off the agenda” yesterday after an interim agreement over bonus pay. Unite had warned of strikes over bonuses, but the issue will now be considered by a panel made up of a union official and an EDF Energy executive.
As part of the agreement, interim bonuses will be paid until the end of August. Unite officer Jerry Swain said: “I am pleased that, following consultation with our stewards and members, we have been able to agree a clear path forward and that the prospect of industrial action, which is always a last resort, can be taken off the agenda in order to allow the panel to deliberate. https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/10020594.article
June 10, 2017
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employment, UK |
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BBC 7th June 2017 A planning application is being prepared for a new phase in the decommissioning of the Dounreay nuclear power complex in Caithness.
Buildings on the experimental nuclear energy site, which dates to the 1950s, are being emptied of radioactive material and demolished. Starting in 2018, the planned next stage would involve dismantling reactors.
New temporary buildings would also need to be built to aid the new phase. The new buildings would include facilities for handling the clean up and demolition of areas of the site called the Silo and The Shaft. Also included are plans for restoration and landscaping work to restore areas of land to close to how they looked before the construction of Dounreay. The phase would take the site near Thurso to what is called its interim end state. Dounreay Site Restoration Limited has notified Highland Council that it expects to submit the planning application later this year.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-40188815
June 10, 2017
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decommission reactor, UK |
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Winds of change: gusts across Europe help set renewable power record, Nuclear, wind and solar power in UK generate more electricity than gas and coal combined for first time ever. Guardian, Adam Vaughan, 8 June 2017
The windy weather across Europe in the past 24 hours may have been a curse for summer picnics, but it has set records for renewable power. In the UK, wind, nuclear and solar power were together generating more electricity than gas and coal combined at 1pm on Wednesday, for the first time ever.
Including hydropower and biomass burned at power stations such as Drax in North Yorkshire, renewables provided 50.7% of demand at lunchtime.
High wind speeds and the growing number of windfarms off the coasts of the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and other European countries have also set what are understood to be records……https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jun/07/winds-gusts-europe-enewable-power-record
June 10, 2017
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ENERGY, UK |
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Greens would ditch Hinkley Point C – an expert view on the manifestos and recycling
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jun/07/general-election-public-service-manifesto-pledges-environment Damian Carrington ,8 June 17
Conservatives
New support for fracking to extract shale and coal seam gas is the most striking pledge from the Conservatives, with the easing of planning rules, a new dedicated regulator and more of any future tax revenues going directly to communities hosting shale gas sites. Wind power remains ruled out in England, but offshore wind farms are supported. The energy efficiency of all fuel-poor homes would be upgraded to meet energy performance certificate (EPC) band C criteria by 2030. There is no environment section in the manifesto and the UK’s air pollution crisis gets a single sentence: “We will take action against poor air quality in urban areas.” A free vote on repealing the ban on fox hunting with dogs is promised.
Labour
Four million homes would be insulated to cut emissions, improve health and lower bills. Fracking would be banned but new nuclear power stations and renewable energy, including tidal lagoons, are supported. On air pollution, a new Clean Air Act is promised, but without any detail. The controversial badger cull, intended to curb TB in cattle, would end and bees and other pollinators would be protected by a ban on neonicotinoid pesticides. Labour would “set guiding targets for plastic bottle deposit schemes”, aimed at cutting the 7bn single-use bottles sold in the UK each year.
Liberal Democrats
Higher, cheaper, sleeker: wind turbines of the future – in pictures
Greens
Nine million homes would receive energy efficiency upgrades, bringing two million people out of fuel poverty. Fracking would be banned and the planned Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in Somerset cancelled, while public funds would be divested from the fossil fuel industry. A new government-owned investment body would finance the transition to a zero-carbon economy. The Greens would “end the monopoly of the big six [energy companies] by building democratic, locally owned alternatives”, which would get priority access to the national grid. Plastic waste would be tackled with the introduction of a bottle deposit scheme and free public water dispensers.
June 10, 2017
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politics, UK |
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Evening Standard 7th June 2017 Former Lib Dem energy minister Sir Ed Davey was today accused of “keeping quiet” about a paid job with a lobbying firm that represents the French energy giant he awarded an £18 billion deal.
The accusation came after Sir Ed sent voters in Kingston and Surbiton a summary of his career in an election leaflet. While the “CV” for voters in the key marginal said he had gone “back to consultancy” after losing his seat in 2015, it made no mention that he is working two days a month for MHP Communications, a company which specialises in influencing government policy on behalf of paying clients.
Among MHP’s clients is EDF, the French firm that struck a controversial deal to build the Hinkley Point nuclear power station in Somerset. The deal, overseen by Sir Ed as energy secretary in the Coalition, was attacked as poor value for the taxpayer by critics because it involved paying EDF nearly three times the current wholesale price of electricity in return for constructing and running the massive project. One expert called the contract the “worst deal I’ve ever seen”. http://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/ed-davey-kept-quiet-on-election-cv-about-energy-lobbying-job-a3558901.html
June 9, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
politics, secrets,lies and civil liberties, UK |
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No2NuClear No 96 June 2017 The future of Moorside has been thrown into doubt by the financial troubles of Japanese giant Toshiba which owns the company developing the scheme – Nugen. Nugen is undertaking a strategic review of its options following what it calls “vendor challenges”, (1) although the company says it is “110 per cent certain” it will be built. (2)
According to The Times Toshiba is seeking a buyer for NuGen, but bidders are scarce and the sale is fraught with complexity. The source of Toshiba’s malaise is the decision — a decade ago — to transform itself into a global force in nuclear energy. The acquisition of Westinghouse from state-owned British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) was done amid the feverish climate of the precredit crisis boom.
Westinghouse has two contracts to install AP1000 reactors at existing nuclear power stations in Georgia and South Carolina, signed in 2008 — America’s first nuclear reactors in a generation. The plants are years late and an estimated $10bn (£7.7bn) over budget, with no certainty about completion. After Fukushima, Toshiba was forced to enhance safety procedures at the two plants, at vast expense. The Japanese giant has, in effect, been left on the hook for unlimited costs. It has booked $6.3bn of write-downs on the Westinghouse subsidiary — and has warned that there is now doubt over Toshiba’s status as a going concern.
Korean nuclear giant Kepco is the most likely suitor for NuGen, but wants to use its own reactors rather than Westinghouse’s AP1000 design. A sale of the American company would be highly contentious, given its strategic importance. If a buyer cannot be found, or bankruptcy does not sever the liabilities on the American projects, all the uncapped costs could stay with the Japanese company. “Toshiba could end up as just a holding company for Westinghouse,” said one industry source. That would be the nightmare scenario for its investors — and a hammer blow to Britain’s nuclear strategy. (3)
The Chinese state-owned State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation (SNPTC) is also reported to be considering investing in NuGen. Eight senior officials from SNPTC are said to have met executives from NuGen and Britain’s atomic power trade body, the Nuclear Industry Association in May. Sources said SNPTC could seek to power NuGen with its own reactor — a derivative of Westinghouse’s AP1000 model, which is planned for the site. (4)
The National Grid has also hit the pause button on Moorside’s 102-mile power line connection. Plans for the “biggest new power line since electricity network was built” have been shelved. (5)
The GMB union has demanded that the government “stop faffing” and step in to save Moorside. GMB slammed the government for “continued dithering” following the latest in a series of setbacks. “How many kicks in the teeth for the desperately needed new nuclear plant at Moorside will it take to bring politicians of all colours to their senses?” asked GMB national secretary Justin Bowden. “Britain must have the reliable zero carbon nuclear power that Moorside will bring as part of the balanced energy mix, alongside renewables and gas.” (6)
NuGen held a Stage 2 public consultation which finished at the end of July 2016, but now 10 months later, there has been no feedback report despite the fact that it was promised for No2NuclearPower nuClear news No.96, June 2017 24
‘Autumn 2016’. Nor has NuGen indicated that it will hold the further consultation called for by CORE, local authorities and others to make up for the lack of detailed information provided in the Stage 2 consultation documents. (7)
Meanwhile, Horizon Nuclear Power has published new plans for its nuclear power station at Wylfa Newydd, which it states should cut the labour force needed to build the 2.7GW plant. The company, which is owned by Hitachi, has proposed a more compact design in its latest blueprint for the site on the Isle of Anglesey, off the north Wales coast. (8)It has launched a third formal consultation on the latest proposals. (9) The power station’s footprint will be reduced by sharing more buildings between the twin reactors, including the facilities for transmitting the electricity generated at the site to the Grid. Off-site support buildings, including a garage and back-up control facilities, will be housed in a single location. Horizon is also investigating making greater use of off-site construction.
http://www.no2nuclearpower.org.uk/nuclearnews/NuClearNewsNo96.pdf
June 7, 2017
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business and costs, UK |
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No2Nuclear No 96 June 2017 According to the Office for National Statistics the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) direct jobs in the nuclear industry had declined to 12,400 by 2015, but about 9,400 of these workers do not produce electricity at all. They are engaged mostly in legacy nuclear waste management.
In 2015 ONS reported that the number of FTE direct jobs in the renewable forms of electricity generation had increased to 48,900 – about 16 times the number of jobs in nuclear electricity generation. (2) In 2015, 338 TWh of electricity was produced in the UK (DECC data). This comprised 70 TWh from nuclear, 85TWh from renewables and the rest from fossil fuels. (3) That amounts to about 43 jobs per TWh for nuclear and about 575 jobs per TWh for renewables. So not only are renewables cheaper than nuclear, but they also create around 13 times more jobs than nuclear power.
Offshore wind is becoming a double win for policymakers, according to Ray Thompson, Head of Business Development at Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy. He says offshore wind is coming to represent a major challenge to competing technologies. The new Siemens blade manufacturing facility and project execution harbour in Hull which opened in December 2016 has already created 800 new jobs and the numbers on site will rise to over 1,000 when full production is reached. (4)
Renewable energy jobs could “offset” fossil-fuel job losses by 2030 according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Renewable Energy and Jobs – Annual Review 2017 presents the status of renewable energy employment, both by technology and in selected countries, over the past year. In this fourth edition, IRENA finds that renewable energy employed 9.8 million people around the world in 2016 – a 1.1% increase over 2015. Jobs in renewables, excluding large hydropower, increased by 2.8% to reach 8.3 million in 2016. China, No2NuclearPower nuClear news No.96, June 2017 8 Brazil, the United States, India, Japan and Germany accounted for most of the renewable energy jobs. The shift to Asia continued, with 62% of the global total located in the continent. (5) Nuclear Power and Jobs
A policy which promotes nuclear power significantly diminishes the prospects of creating new jobs in renewable energy industries – in establishing an offshore wind manufacturing base for instance.
Nuclear power is a capital intensive industry, which means it requires a much higher injection of money to produce its final product – it is not a very efficient way of creating jobs. If there were an alternative way of providing or saving the same amount of electricity, but at the same time creating more jobs, clearly that would be a strategy worth pursuing.
One way of comparing the number of jobs created by different energy sources is to calculate the number of jobs for each Terawatt hour (TWh–1 billion kilowatt hours) generated annually. This, of course, will depend on the performance of the generating station. So a new 1.6GW reactor employing 500 people which operates an average of 80% of the time will be providing 45 jobs per TWh. Goldemberg has estimated the number of jobs created per TWh of power generated and found that nuclear produces around 75 jobs per terawatt hour (TWh), whereas wind power produces 918 – 2,400 per TWh. Solar photovoltaics provides 29,580 – 107,000 jobs/TWh. (1) http://www.no2nuclearpower.org.uk/nuclearnews/NuClearNewsNo96.pdf
June 7, 2017
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employment, renewable, UK |
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Solar Portal 6th June 2017 Rooftop solar panels in towns and cities across Scotland were able to generate more than the average home’s demand for electricity throughout May in an “extraordinary month for renewables”, according to WWF Scotland. Analysis of solar data by WeatherEnergy found that homes in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and more were able to generate over 100% of the
average household electricity demand, with rooftop solar in Lerwick on the Shetland Islands producing the most kWh last month. http://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/rooftop_solar_generation_reaches_new_highs_in_scotland
June 7, 2017
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decentralised, UK |
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Toxic cargo of nuclear waste leaves Scotland for US under armed guard https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/toxic-cargo-of-nuclear-waste-leaves-for-us/ Jim Lawson, 04 June 2017 AN American military plane carrying a deadly cargo of radioactive waste has taken off from Scotland for the second time.
Dozens of armed police stood guard yesterday as highly-enriched uranium was loaded on to a giant American Air Force transport jet at Wick John O’Groats Airport. The secretive operation – signed off by David Cameron and Barack Obama last year – aims to clear a backlog of nuclear waste stored at Dounreay power station in Caithness.
But critics have blasted the high-security flights as unsafe and “morally reprehensible”.
Independent nuclear consultant John Large said: “This is pretty toxic stuff. It is weapons grade material. It is quite active. It’s ticking away and it does not turn itself off. “In the States, you cannot overfly with this type of material. The plane will put down on the east coast and the shipment will continue under armed escort by rail or by road.”
He said the risks in transporting nuclear waste by aircraft included “in the event of a crash, the fuel being engulfed in fire, the packages breaking down and the fuel igniting”.
Yesterday’s operation got underway at 10am, with the US C-17 Globemaster arriving in the early afternoon to pick up its dangerous cargo. Armed police guarded two trucks carrying the uranium – a critical component in nuclear weapons – in re-inforced steel flasks as they travelled the 32 miles from Dounreay to Wick airport. Roads around the airport were closed and sealed off as the deadly waste was delivered at 2pm.
Its cargo on board, the giant jet lumbered along the runway and took off at 4.25pm for the short hop across the Moray Firth to RAF Lossiemouth, where it topped up with fuel under armed RAF guard.
The runway at Wick is 1,712 feet too short for a fully fuelled Globemaster to get airborne.
It then took off for South Carolina, where the uranium will be transported to a nuclear facility in Tennessee.
A further 10 transatlantic flights – each costing around £1 million – are expected, but bosses remain secretive over the details. A spokesman for Dounreay, which is currently being decommissioned, said: “We can confirm nuclear materials are being removed from the site ahead of its closure.
“Compliance with the regulations includes protecting any information about the routes, times, dates and location”.
A police spokesman said: “We are supporting a partner agency’s operation and cannot comment further.” And a spokesman for Wick John O’Groats airport said it didn’t comment on “specific aircraft movements”.
June 5, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
safety, UK, USA, wastes |
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Leading the way is Lightsource, Europe’s largest privately-held solar developer, which plans to expand into the US. Last year the company unveiled a world first: a floating solar installation to help power a Thames Water reservoir just outside London.
The 6-megawatt structure lies flat against the water and is made up of 24,000 solar panels that sit on a platform buoyed by 61,000 individual floats and held in place by 177 anchors.
Once eclipsed, the solar industry will rise and shine again over Britain http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/06/03/eclipsed-solar-industry-will-rise-shine-britain/ Jillian Ambrose 3 JUNE 2017 •
From above, the summer sun catches the glimmer and sheen of a new facet of the energy evolution.
A solar panel does not command attention quite like the stoic thermal power plants that rise up from British landscapes. But on a balmy summer’s day last month, the collective glare of millions of panels proved solar power’s mettle.
The spring bank holiday heatwave began with a new record for solar power generation, which created a quarter of the nation’s electricity mix on Friday afternoon. Britain’s solar panels produced more electricity than nuclear and coal power combined. They are likely to do this again and again as summer rolls on. Five years ago this was a feat few would have dared predict. The solar boom was fuelled by generous subsidies and spurred by rapidly falling costs, at a rate far exceeding expectations.
Paul Barwell, head of the Solar Trade Association, says there are now 12.1 gigawatts of solar in the UK, the same production capacity as eight new-generation nuclear reactors and enough to power 3.8m homes.
He says the “colossal achievement” achieved in just five years sends a positive message that solar has a strong place in the UK energy sector. This is a point Barwell is keen to make because the rise of solar power has been far from assured – the industry has been shattered by knee-jerk political interventions.
In China, policymakers put the country’s manufacturing heft firmly behind developing cheaper solar panels, accelerating the technology’s journey down the cost curve.
Once considered the preserve of the very well-off, in the UK rooftop solar panels were suddenly within the reach of homeowners. Farmers with depleted land found economically it made more sense to farm renewable electricity than sheep. Energy-intensive factories were easily persuaded to generate their own power to cut costs.
Now solar panels encrust the surfaces of reservoirs and are expected to plate the roof of Buckingham Palace. Continue reading →
June 5, 2017
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renewable, UK |
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Times 2nd June 2017 China and the European Union will announce a new joint commitment to combat global warming today, making a clear break from President Trump after he withdrew the United States from the Paris climate accord.
Critics said that Mr Trump’s promise to revive the coal industry could not be fulfilled. He was surrendering America’s leadership role on the world stage, they added – and China would step in. Nigel Purvis, a US climate negotiator under President Clinton, said: “Trump just handed the 21st century to China. It’s an opportunity for China to rebrand itself as the global leader.”
Mr Trump went against the advice of Rex Tillerson, his secretary of state; Gary Cohn, his chief economic adviser; his daughter, Ivanka; and the Pope. Tim Cook, the chief executive of Apple, had called the White House on Wednesday to urge the president to rethink. Elon Musk, the Silicon Vally billionaire who leads Tesla, the electric car company, said that he would leave the two White House councils on which he served as an adviser. “Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world,” Mr Musk said.
“If I were a Chinese policymaker I’d be baffled as to why Trump had offered us an open goal,” said John Ashton, who spent years negotiating with China as the Foreign Office’s special envoy for climate change. Other countries may respond by redoubling thei r commitment to the accord, as China and Europe are doing, or by seeking to water down their pledges, as some fear that developing giants such as India and Brazil will do. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/world/eu-and-china-forge-climate-alliance-and-turn-back-on-trump-27pqqzz0s
June 3, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
China, climate change, EUROPE, politics international |
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