Brussels, 09/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - On the eve of the presentation of the EU “energy package”, expected this Wednesday after consideration in the College of Commissioners (see EUROPE 9339), environmental NGOs and the Greens/EFA group in the Parliament, all full of ambition for renewable energy and stepping up the fight against global warming, remain cautious. While some urge the European Commission to show courage, others, more pessimistically, fear the worst.
Greenpeace, which has managed to get hold of documents, is under no illusions. In a press release published on 9 January, it says unequivocally that, “like many a Christmas gift, the European Commission's much-heralded … energy package” … promises to be all packaging and little substance”. Although the Commission recognises the need for urgent action to combat climate change, break Europe's dependence on imported fuels and increase competitiveness, it is likely, says Greenpeace, that the “energy package” will reveal that the Commission cannot see beyond today's energy model, even while recognising that this model is expensive, unsustainable and skewed. “We are particularly concerned that the Commission is considering an overhaul of existing policy on renewable energies, which could significantly undermine investor confidence in this young, thriving industry,” said Frauke Thies, EU energy policy campaigner for Greenpeace on renewable energies. The renewable energy roadmap proposes setting one overall target for renewable energy in the electricity, transport, and heating and cooling sectors, representing “a departure from the current sector-specific approach, which has been very successful,” said Ms Thies.
Greenpeace also criticises the Commission's “attempts to throw a lifeline to coal, the most polluting, least efficient source of energy, by lending strong support to unproven carbon capture and storage technologies in electricity generation”. It says it would take at least a decade to test these technologies and “even if they worked”, another ten years to deploy them on a significant scale. “The Commission is ignoring the financial costs of carbon capture and storage, its risk of failure, for example due to leakage, and that focusing on this technology diverts attention away from clean and dependable options like renewable energy and efficiency,” said Mark Johnstone, EU energy policy campaigner for Greenpeace on coal, nuclear power and subsidies.
As for reduction targets for greenhouse gas emissions post 2012, Greenpeace says that if the Commission intends to propose a 30% reduction by 2020 for industrialised countries as a whole, it is far from certain that it will recommend this objective for the EU, even though several Member States (Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Sweden) favour such a move, and this is the figure to be achieved to meet the target, to which the EU committed itself, of stabilising global average temperatures at 2% above pre-industrial levels. “If the Commission recommends, as it is rumoured, a meagre 20% greenhouse gas emissions target for Europe for 2020, it will stand accused of a scientific and political blunder.”
WWF wonders if the Commission is not about to miss an opportunity to deal seriously with climate change. It calls on the EU, therefore, to be bold and put in place the concrete measures needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In other words, “The EU must aim at a unilateral domestic target of 30% reduction by 2020 compared to 1990. Any lower target is equal to the EU failing to live up to its responsibility”. Given that energy accounts for 93% of carbon dioxide emissions in Europe, action in this sector is key to guaranteeing development options for future generations, stresses WWF, recommending that the EU - set a binding target of 25% for renewable energy use by 2020, along with specific targets for electricity, heating and cooling, and biofuels; - make energy savings of 20% through energy efficiency and energy conservation in the transport, construction and electrical equipment sectors; - ensure legally binding regulation on carbon capture and storage, following the immediate assessment of geological carbon storage potential, so that by 2020 all power stations will be subject to compulsory carbon capture and storage.
In the Parliament, the Greens/EFA say that, “Based on present drafts, the Commission's 'Energy Package' … will be a missed opportunity. The Commission looks set to water down its proposals on both ownership unbundling and renewables, revealing Commission President Barroso's bluster about a new industrial revolution as nothing but hollow spin,” said Luxemburg Green Claude Turmes (an)