Brussels, 08/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - A pan-European communication campaign on intelligent and innovative solutions to climate change was launched at London's City Hall on Monday 8 October by Connie Hedegaard, European Climate Action Commissioner (see EUROPE 10704). With the slogan “A world you like with the climate you'll like”, this campaign aims to stress the viable solutions already in existence to achieve the objective the EU has set itself of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 80% to 95% by 2050 compared to the reference levels. With a website, which will soon be available on the 23 languages of the EU, it constitutes a platform for the citizens, businesses and local groups to upload, promote and discuss their low-carbon solutions and take part in a pan-European competition to select the best and most original of them.
“We have a choice: we can act on our knowledge about climate change. Or we can sit idly by and watch as things get worse. Both options come with a pricetag. So why not create a world we like, with a climate we like - while we still have time? With this campaign we want to focus the debate on the solutions and find out what is holding us back from applying them”, said Hedegaard.
Intelligent and innovative solutions already in existence in Europe include, for example, the one set in place in the Stockholm central railway station, where the body heat of commuters is converted into heat for a nearby office building, reducing CO2 emissions and the energy bill of the building by 20% to 25%. In Denmark, solar energy allows Gedved school in Horsens to save €30,000 a year on its energy bill, and reinvest the money saved in improving education.
More than 70 organisations, including professional associations, universities, NGOs and public institutions, have already confirmed their involvement in the campaign. The aim is to recruit new partners throughout the length of the campaign, which will run until the end of 2013.
At the inauguration ceremony, the debate was launched on the theme: “Visions for a world you like”. Other events will take place over the course of the campaign, in Bulgaria, Italy, Poland and Portugal, amongst others.
This campaign comes under the heading of the “Roadmap for moving to a competitive low-carbon economy in 2050” published by the Commission in March 2011, which includes guidelines for achieving substantial and viable reductions in the emissions of the main sectors of the economy. (AN/transl.fl).