Brussels, 19/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - Fifteen environment ministers from a number of European countries (Belgium, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Norway), who have formed a Green Growth Group, called on Thursday 18 December on the EU to keep up the momentu and give itself the highest ambitions for its climate and energy policy, both at home and in the wider world, in its own interests and also to ensure the succes of the UN's climate conference in Paris (COP 21, December 2015).
The Green Growth Group issued a statement the day after the Environment Council meeting and to coincide with the European Summit on the Juncker Investment Plan. The Green Growth Group urges the European Commission to ensure that these important political priorities are reflected in its structure and work programme for 2015 by incorporating climate, sustainability and green growth concerns.
Energy/Climate Framework for 2030. The Green Growth Group welcomes the agreement at the European Summit on an “ambitious target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions” by at least 40% on the 1990 level, the targets for renewables and energy efficiency and speeding up the target of emery interconnection. They stress the important role of renewable energy, energy efficiency and safe and sustainable low-carbon technology for achieving the EU's targets for 2030. The ministers add that the Energy Climate Framework 2030 will be to the advantage of all EU member states and crucial for implementing the European Commission's new strategy for high-qualtiy jobs, sustainable growth, competitiveness and investment throughout the EU.
The ministers give full support to urgent reform of the carbon trading system, ETS, by creating a market stability reserve. They call on the Council of the EU and the European Parliament to agree on an ambitious stability reserve to provide certainty to industry and investors. They point out in this respect that a large number of the signatories favour the introduction of a stability reserve in 2017 and the transfer of frozen quotas to the reserve (see EUROPE 11221).
The Green Growth Group says the Commission should respond to concerns about carbon leakage by ensuring suitable forms of support in legislation for sectors exposed to the risk of loss of global competitiveness as a result of the EU's climate policy.
The ministers want a rapid introduction of the greenhouse gas emissions reduction target for 2030 and call on the Juncker Commission to rapidly begin implementing new legislation connected with Climate and Energy Framework 2030.
The European Commission's new work programme. “We wish to underline the great importance of maintaining climate, sustainability and green growth as a top political priority in the EU's future activities. We call on the new Commission to integrate Europe's climate, energy and green growth objective, including the 2020 and 2030 Climate and Energy Framework, as a core priority within the new Vice-Presidential Structure and horizontally across the Commission and its future work programme,” note the signatories.
The fifteen European ministers who promote green growth say that this would ensure:
That the EU strengthens its leading role in tackling climate change ahead of the UNFCCC COP 21 via ambitious climate action within Europe, promoting global action and carbon pricing and byworking tirelessly to help deliver a robust climate agreement that will keep global warming below two degrees Celsius. “We call on the European Commission and all member states to swiftly eleborate the details of the EU's intended nationally determined contribution so that it can be communicated to the UNFCCC parties by March 2015”;
The EU “should be ready to consider raising the ambition of the greenhouse gas reduction target” and “the level of EU action (…) in the context of securing an ambitious, global and comprehensive international climate agreement at the Paris conference”;
That greenhouse gas emissons reduction targets and enhancing energy security are delivered by mutually reinforcing action. (AN)