In Brussels on Wednesday 20 September, MEP Claude Turmes (Greens/EFA, Luxembourg) and Dr Felix C. Matthes presented a study, “Vision Scenario”, commissioned by the Greens/EFA Group and carried out by the Institute for Applied Ecology, which models energy consumption between now and 2050 so as to be able to meet the commitment to restrict global warming to “well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels”.
Turmes firstly welcomed the publication of the study which proposes a clear scenario to be followed in the coming decades. He emphasised that the Greens/EFA Group, unlike the European Commission, national governments and the other political groups in the European Parliament, is the only political body at this present time to have a roadmap that is compatible with the Paris climate agreement that was adopted on 12 December 2015 (see EUROPE 11452).
Dr Matthes, who was part of the research team, then presented the detail of the study, which is set out as a long-term energy sector and greenhouse gas emissions scenario. He said that, in the scenario, three challenges had to be met: decarbonisation, risk minimisation and roll-out of renewable energies. With the aim of restricting global warming to 2°C (with a 66% likelihood), the Institute for Applied Ecology calculates that the 28 European Union member states could emit 61.5 billion tonnes of CO2 by 2050. The Institute quantified the CO2 and greenhouse gases that each sector could emit and the types of energy that could be used. Sun, wind and biomass should be the three main energy sources by 2050.
Taking this study as its basis, the Greens/EFA Group has launched a number of calls, stressing notably the need to do more on energy efficiency and renewable energies and to support the circular economy.
Turmes also stated that his group would bring forward firmer ideas before the end of the month. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)