Effective action on energy by 2030 and 2050 is essential to tackle climate change and, if the EU does not want to pay a heavy price for the climate changes that will take place by 2100, it will have not only to make far greater reductions in its greenhouse gas emissions but also do more in terms of adaptation, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) warned on Tuesday 19 September.
The ECA’s 104 page “Landscape review: EU action on energy and climate change”, which it published on the same day, provides an overview of EU action within the climate-energy integrated framework and the 2013 adaptation strategy, and in light of the targets of the Paris climate agreement. It summarises key audit work by the European Court of Auditors and EU national audit institutions and identifies the main challenges, in order to inform both the legislative debate and future audit work.
The reason that action on energy is so important is that energy production, mainly from the transformation and combustion of fossil fuels, and energy use by transport, industry, households and agriculture jointly account for 79% of EU greenhouse gas emissions, the auditors state.
In the internal energy market, the auditors note, the goal of delivering affordable, competitively priced, sustainable and secure energy in a cost-effective way has not yet been achieved, despite significant progress in some regions of the EU.
On climate change, they say that significant additional efforts are essential if the EU is to achieve its targets and they state that all economic sectors will need to contribute. Reducing emissions by at least 40% by 2030 will require annual emission reduction efforts to be increased by half in the next decade. And to reach the indicative target of an 80-90% reduction by 2050, the emission reduction rate will need to outpace historic levels by three to four times, the report states.
By 2071-2100, Europe’s climate will be significantly different from that of the 1961-1990 period under an average 2°C temperature increase compared to pre-industrial levels. Even if the scenario of a 2°C maximum global increase is achieved, temperatures will increase by far more than 2°C in certain regions, the Court points out.
“Current projections show that more progress is needed to reach the 2030 targets and the 2050 objectives in cutting greenhouse gas emissions. It will also be a great challenge for the EU and Member States correctly to anticipate and plan adaptation, reducing the need to act late, in response to events, which would cost more”, said Phil Wynn Owen, the ECA member responsible for the review.
The auditors point out that the 2013 EU adaptation strategy encourages member states to take action but it does not make action mandatory.
The seven main challenges identified are: energy and climate change governance; evidence-based policy; energy transition; using research and innovation effectively; planning for and tackling adaptation; financing; and involving EU citizens.
This review is a new kind of publication from the Court of Auditors, allowing it to submit observations on matters which are not necessarily susceptible to audit per se but are nonetheless important for public accountability. It can be found at: http://www.eca.europa.eu/Lists/ECADocuments/LR17_01/LR_ENERGY_EN.pdf (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)