Articles

In his written response to questions from MEPs, Commissioner-designate for trade, Karel de Gucht, pledged “independence” and “to counter third-party interests where these have undue influence”. He also said he would “listen and to seek the opinion of the widest range of stakeholders and experts”. Will DG Trade finally get a commissioner that puts an end to the department's habit of granting big business privileged access and undue influence over its policies?

While Commissioner Kallas certainly deserves praise, the paper titled "My results 2005-2009" posted on his website just before Christmas overstates his achievements on some key issues. The voluntary lobby transparency register simply suffers from too many shortcomings to be considered a success, as has been pointed out in numerous postings in this blog and by other observers.

The Business of Climate Change was up for debate at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen on Thursday with a question and answer discussion run by the Prince of Wales’ Corporate Leaders’ Group on Climate Change. The Group - which includes big polluters like Shell and Cemex - has launched its own, surprisingly tough call for a Copenhagen deal ( the Copenhagen Communique) - which is supported by some 900 companies from around the world.

Remarkably under-reported: an opinion poll published by Eurobarometer last week revealed that a growing share of European citizens considers corruption to be a serious problem. No less than 83% of the respondents believe that “there is corruption in national institutions” (ranging from 35% in Denmark to 98% in Greece). “The close links between business and politics is the most common cause Europeans give for corruption, followed by insufficient action by governments to prevent corruption”, Eurobarometer reports.

There are thousands of business lobbyists at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen, but the biggest group once again appears to be from the Angry Mermaid candidate, the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA).

The Zero Emissions Platform (ZEP) – an EU-based fossil fuel industry group funded, in part, by the European tax payer – is in Copenhagen to promote the role of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in an agreement on climate change. This article looks at how ZEP has used public money to lobby for subsidies in the EU - and how it is pushing for support on an international scale. Read the whole article here:

CEO team members blog from the Copenhagen climate summit. Go to: climatecrashers.blogspot.com