Brussels, 20/07/2010 (Agence Europe) - OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría is delighted that the United Kingdom, a supporter of countries unilaterally deciding whether to increase their CO2 emissions reduction by 2020, has now joined Germany and France (which did a u-turn in their positions in June), in jointly calling for a 30% reduction in CO2 emissions from the EU by 2020 (compared to 1990 levels).
In a press release published on Monday 19 July, Gurria declared: “Securing an agreement on greenhouse gases that will engage a wide enough coalition of countries to make sufficient progress is one of the most important outstanding items on the international agenda. It is encouraging that these countries are prepared to advocate an ambitious way forward.”
This news was made known at the Environment Council on 14 June, when the European Commission communication on analysing possible options for going beyond the 20% targets (EUROPE 10159) was debated. It appears to have changed its position when the environment ministers Jean-Louis Borloo (France), Chris Huhne (United Kingdom) and Norbert Röttgen (Germany) jointly published a right-of-reply column in the press entitled, “Reducing Carbon Emission Rates by 30% Requires a New Model for Growth in Europe” (Le Monde, 16 July).
In this column, the three ministers justify their beliefs by arguing that there is “a need for the EU to adopt a carbons emissions reduction target that is likely to provide an incentive to innovation and action in the international context” and provide an opportunity for Europe to “lead the world in its efforts to create this new low carbons emissions model by linking it to economic growth”.
A recent OECD analysis, “Costs and Effectiveness of the Copenhagen Pledges: Assessing Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions Targets and Action for 2020”, suggests that additional costs linked to an increase in the EU target (a 30% cut in emissions) would be moderate: around 0.3% in GDP in 2020, assuming the linked carbon markets compared with 0.2% for the 20% emissions target and without linked markets. (A.N./transl.rh)