President Obama believes in the need to transition to a cleaner, more reliable, and affordable 21st century power grid. Under his leadership, transformations in how we produce and consume electricity are decreasing carbon pollution, scaling up renewable energy, and generating savings on consumers’ energy bills. Since 2009, renewable energy generation has increased at a record pace, while costs have decreased dramatically.  Building on this progress, smart electricity market reforms, enhanced transparency, and flexible energy resources such as storage and...

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Demand for food is set to rise by 70% due to the global population growing to 9.6 billion by 2050. Feeding them all will be a serious challenge. In reports adopted during last week's plenary, MEPs stressed the need to invest in agricultural technology, while still reducing agriculture's ecological impact. They also looked into how farmers in Africa could be helped. According to the UN's World Food Programme 795 million people in the world do not have enough food...

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The European Commission welcomes the agreement on the reform of Money Market Funds (MMFs) that was reached today at the Permanent Representatives Committee (COREPER) of the Council. The agreement marks a further step in the completion of the post-crisis reform agenda and paves the way for trilogues with the European Parliament. The Commission adopted its proposal for a regulatory framework of MMFs in September 2013 in order to address their potential impact on the financial system. MMFs are a key part...

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Brussels, 15 June 2016 Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, Ladies and Gentlemen, Thank you for the invitation and putting the social and economic dimension of the Energy Union on your agenda. President Juncker and this Commission made the deliberate choice to organise the Energy Union project around a project team. The reason for this is that a true Energy Union requires more than the coordination of energy policies. We are witnessing the beginning of a true energy transition because of our climate goals and...

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