The rapporteurs of the European Parliament on the draft governance framework for energy and climate, Michèle Rivasi of France and Claude Turmes of Luxembourg, the leaders of the Greens/EFA group on energy matters, went before the press on Thursday 8 June to defend their decision to set considerably higher energy efficiency and renewables targets for 2030 than those proposed by the Commission and to support the member states through increased regional cooperation and greater involvement of local authorities and civil society.
“We have an historic opportunity in the abandonment by the American President, Donald Trump, of the international climate agreement of Paris. This decision gives Europe the opportunity to be much more ambitious on the measures to take to reduce climate change and to have a very strong energy transition policy”, Rivasi explained (our translation throughout).
“Instead of starting low, as the Commission is proposing with targets of 30% energy efficiency, 27% from renewables and 40% savings in CO2 emissions up to 2030, instead of moving forward step-by-step and then ending up with high ambition that will be very expensive, we want a carbon budget in 2050 with a zero CO2 emissions target and 100% renewables and we are staggering this budget up to 2030 with a target of 45% for renewables and 40% energy efficiency”, the French MEP added.
“What sets us apart from certain member states is that we want binding targets. Europe has a key role to play. With the American withdrawal, India and China are in favour of an ambitious policy”, she went on to stress.
As well as reinforcing the targets under the energy/climate governance framework, the two Green rapporteurs also add two additional decision-making levels, Turmes explained. “The Commission is putting all responsibility onto the governments. Of course, they have a major role, but we want to help them meet their targets”, he said.
The rapporteurs are calling firstly for increased regional cooperation on the basis of various existing initiatives, for instance in the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and south-west Europe, and secondly for increased transparency, to involve local authorities and civil society.
“The national energy/climate action plans should be public and published, to allow NGOs and civil society to be able to put pressure on the states if their targets are below those laid down by the EU”, insisted Rivasi. “If we want social consensus, we need absolute transparency from the second the governments draw up their national plans. Otherwise, civil society will not follow”, said Turmes, calling for the national plans to include structured dialogue with the cities and local authorities. “In Luxembourg, 104 of the 105 local authorities participate in a structured agreement with the central government. Whenever any of those authorities invests in green buildings or electricity, they receive financial support from the central government. There has to be a system that rewards cities when they make efforts for the sustainable transition”, he stressed.
Finally, the rapporteurs said that they had called for a specific strategy on methane. “Methane is much more punishing for the greenhouse gases and therefore climate change, particularly over the first 20 years”, Rivasi explained.
“It’s nearly the moment of truth for all European governments. Europe must show that it truly takes the Paris agreements seriously”, Turmes concluded, accusing Italy of being “in cahoots with the ‘Polish black bloc’” in all dossiers of the clean energy package, Spain of “dragging its heels” in its disengagement with coal-fired power stations and the Netherlands of opposing various major principles of governance. Turmes then, however, said that he was “coordinating” with a coalition of the willing of the Council, led by Sweden, Germany and Portugal and, to a lesser extent, France and Luxembourg. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)