Brussels, 16/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - At the Environment Council in Brussels on Monday 14 March, Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard set out the roadmap for a low-carbon economy adopted by the European Commission on 8 March (see EUROPE 10331). The plan was given a warm reception by ministers.
However, seven member states - Denmark, Germany, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom - called on the European Union collectively to lift its level of ambition for emissions reduction by 2020. Rather than a reduction of 20% (compared with 1990), these countries believe that the EU should set a deeper target of 30% if it is to hit is 80% reduction target on which the roadmap is built by 2050. “80% is the target for a low-carbon economy, not for a carbon-free economy”, Hedegaard told the press.
The roadmap sets the viable emissions reduction target for the EU at 25% by 2020, if member states meet their energy efficiency objective of 20% by 2020, thereby allowing 5% to be added to the target to which the EU subscribed unilaterally in international climate negotiations.
The Commission roadmap clearly highlights that the current commitment to a 20% reduction is not an effective way to achieve the final target by 2050, the seven environment ministers say in their joint letter. They go to say that they believe that it is vital to implement a plan today, and not in 40 years' time, to bring forward the necessary investment. They argue that an ambitious plan will offer the EU greater protection from fluctuations in oil prices and reduce dependence on imports of fossil energy.
WWF said immediately that it was “very encouraging to see that some of our politicians show leadership when it is needed - these ministers have understood the overwhelming evidence of the economic and environmental benefits of cutting the EU's use of fossil fuels”.
The 30% reduction in emissions by 2020, conditional on similar efforts being made by other parties to the negotiations, in particular the industrialised countries and major emerging economies, is still on the table. The EU, however, is of the view that the time is not right to move from 20% to 30%.
The call from the seven ministers coincides with the publication by China of its new five-year plan for investment in clean energy and infrastructure (see related article) which will outstrip the EU by some considerable distance, WWF points out. “The EU can't afford to stand around waiting for others to act on climate change - because they already are. If Europe wants a seat at the table in the future economy, we'd better pull up a chair, not hide in the corner”, it says. It points out that forty of the world's leading climate scientists had called for a 40% cut from the world's industrialised countries by 2020. (A.N./transl.rt)