English Unlimited HTL 4/5, Schulbuch mit Audio-CD und CD-ROM

173 Preparing for final exams TaSK 2 Topic area: The environment Focus: Renewable energy in the EU Situation: A student forum on renewable energy takes place at your school. The talks and follow-up discussions are all in English as a number of international speakers and students are present. Individual long turn (4–5 minutes): You have been asked to present some basic facts about renewable energy. In your presentation, you:   describe in generals terms the various types of renewable energies.   explain how renewable energies contribute to reducing CO 2 emissions.   argue why programmes to increase the share of renewables in the energy mix are essential for the environment as well as for future economic development. Interaction (8–10 minutes): After your presentation you have a discussion with a student from the UK which focuses on the EU’s efforts towards promoting renewable energies. Look at the next page and:   sum up the EU programme for 2020.   interpret the table about the progress of this programme.   assess the development depicted in the two pie charts. Labour markets are segmented in such a way that young people are overrepresented in temporary jobs: in 2012, 42.1% of young employees were working on a temporary contract (four times as many as adults) and 31.1% were working part-time (nearly twice the adults’ rate). There are fewer and fewer permanent jobs for young people, a trend that has persisted since 2008.  Long-term youth unemployment is on the rise: on average, 32.4% of the young unemployed have been jobless for more than 12 months in 2012. The long- termunemployment rate increased by 3.8 percentage points (to 7.3% of the young labour force) between 2008 and 2012, compared with a 1.9 point increase for adults (to 4.4%).  Eurofound (The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions) estimates that in 2011, the cost of young people’s unemployment or inactivity (i.e. the costs of young people not in employment, education or training) was the equivalent of 1.21%of the GDP, i.e. an annual loss of €153 billion for the EU.The re-integration into employment of just 10%of these young people would create a yearly gain of more than €15 billion. Youth unemployment in Europe In 2008, a new lawwas passed thatmarks important changes for all young people in England. The new law is called ‘The Education and Skills Act 2008’. It says that by 2013, all young people in England have to stay on in education or training at least part- time until they are 17 years old. By 2015, all young people will have to stay on in education or training at least part-time, until they are 18. This means that young people are required to participate in education or training through either: full-time education or training, including school, college and home education; work-based learning, such as an apprenticeship, or part-time education or training, or volunteering more than 20 hours a week. Staying in education or training until you are 18 Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv