EU Plans Steep Emissions Cuts to Avert Climate Disaster
BRUSSELS, Belgium, January 10, 2007 (ENS) -
The European Commission today intensified its campaign to limit global
warming with a new Energy Policy for Europe to fight climate change and
boost the energy security and competitiveness of the EU's 27 member
countries.
The Commission, Europe's executive branch of government, warned
that if left unchecked, global warming is likely to trigger regional
conflicts, poverty, famine, disease, and migration.
The Commission said to avert these disasters global warming must be
held to no more than 2°C above the temperature in pre-industrial times.
If temperatures rise by 2.2°C, an additional 11,000 people in Europe
will die prematurely within 10 years and after 2071 there would be
29,000 extra deaths a year in southern Europe and 27,000 people would
die prematurely in northern Europe.
Yet, the Commission said there is a 50 percent chance that global temperatures will rise by more than 5°C during this century.
![Drax](EU%20Climate%20Disaster_files/20070110_drax.jpg) England's giant Drax coal-fired power station (Photo courtesy FreeFoto)
To combat the dire threat of global warming, the Commission's central
proposal is that, under a future global agreement, the group of
developed countries should cut their emissions of carbon dioxide and
other greenhouse gases responsible for warming the planet to an average
of 30 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.
This target satisfies the European Environmental Bureau, EEB, an
umbrella organization with 143 member environmental organizations in 31
countries.
In December, EEB called for the European Union to adopt "an
unconditional EU greenhouse gas reduction target for 2020 of at least
30 percent."
The Commission said today, "Urgent action is needed to limit
climate change to a manageable level and prevent serious physical and
economic damage."
The EU should take the lead by committing to reduce its own emissions
by at least 20 percent by 2020 – a cut that should be increased to 30
percent as part of a satisfactory global agreement, the Commission
said.
In the longer term, greater emission reductions will be
necessary and developing countries will also have to be part of the
global effort, the Commission said. Worldwide emissions will need to be
cut by up to half of their 1990 levels by 2050.
Commission President José Manuel Barroso said, "The challenges
of climate change, increasing import dependence and higher energy
prices are faced by all EU members. A common European response is
necessary to deliver sustainable, secure and competitive energy."
![Barroso](EU%20Climate%20Disaster_files/20070110_barrosojose.jpg) José Manuel Barroso of Portugal is President of the European Commission. (Photo courtesy Office of the President)
The package proposed by the Commission today seeks to provide solutions
based on three central pillars - a true internal energy market,
accelerating the shift to low carbon energy, and energy efficiency.
"The proposals put forward by the Commission today demonstrate our
commitment to leadership and a long-term vision for a new Energy Policy
for Europe that responds to climate change," Barroso said. "We must act
now, to shape tomorrow's world."
Achievement of these targets will require a massive growth in
all three renewable energy sectors - electricity, biofuels, and heating
and cooling, the Commission said.
This renewables target will be supplemented by a minimum target for
biofuels of 10 percent. In addition, a 2007 renewables legislative
package will include measures to facilitate the market penetration of
both biofuels, and heating and cooling.
Stavros Dimas, Commissioner for the Environment said, "Climate
change is one of the gravest threats to our planet. Acting against
climate change is imperative."
![Stavros](EU%20Climate%20Disaster_files/20070110_dimasstavros.jpg) Stavros Dimas of Greece is European Commissioner for the Environment. (Photo courtesy Office of the Commissioner)
"Today, we have agreed on a set of ambitious, but realistic targets
which will support our global efforts to contain climate change and its
most dire consequences," said Dimas. "I urge the rest of the developed
world to follow our lead, match our reductions and accelerate progress
towards an international agreement on the global emission reductions."
The European Union and most individual EU member states are legally
bound by the Kyoto Protocol to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions
eight percent below 1990 levels by the end of 2012.
But the Commission said today that on current energy and
transport policies, rather than falling, EU emissions would increase by
around five percent by 2030.
The EU's dependence on energy imports will jump from 50 percent of
total EU energy consumption today to 65 percent in 2030 under current
trends and policies, the Commission said.
The Kyoto Protocol is an important first step towards cutting emissions
of greenhouse gases, but its targets expire in 2012 so further
international action needs to be agreed for the period after that, the
Commission said.
In the Commission's view the EU must adopt domestic measures to reduce
its emissions further and take the lead internationally to ensure that
the 2°C global warming limit is respected.
But there is a greater than a 50 percent chance that global
temperatures will rise during this century by more than 5°C, the
Commission said today, basing its predictions upon scientific reports,
including the Stern Review.
![Stern](EU%20Climate%20Disaster_files/20070110_sternnicholas.jpg) Sir
Nicholas Stern was the chief economist and senior vice president of the
World Bank from 2000 to 2003, and is now a civil servant and government
economic advisor in the United Kingdom. (Photo credit unknown)
Published by British economist Sir Nicholas Stern last October at the
request of the Blair Government, the Stern Review says that, "On
current trends, average global temperatures will rise by 2 - 3°C within
the next
50 years or so. The Earth will be committed to several degrees more
warming if emissions continue to grow."
This warming will have many severe impacts, Stern warned. Melting
glaciers will initially increase flood risk and then strongly reduce
water supplies, eventually threatening one-sixth of the world’s
population.
Declining crop yields, especially in Africa, could leave
hundreds of millions without the ability to produce or purchase
sufficient food. At 4°C and above, global food production is likely to
be seriously affected.
Rising sea levels will result in tens to hundreds of millions
more people flooded each year with warming of 3 or 4°C, affecting
Southeast Asia, small island states, and large coastal cities, such as
Tokyo, New York, Cairo and London.
![sea](EU%20Climate%20Disaster_files/20070110_sea.jpg) Sea levels rising due to global warming threaten low-lying European countries such as The Netherlands and Denmark. (Photo courtesy NOAA)
According to one estimate, by the middle of the century, 200 million
people may become permanently displaced due to rising sea levels,
heavier floods, and more intense droughts.
Ecosystems will be particularly vulnerable to climate change, with
around 15 to 40 percent of species potentially facing extinction after
only 2°C of warming. And ocean acidification, a direct result of rising
carbon dioxide levels, will have major effects on marine ecosystems,
with possible adverse consequences on fish stocks, Stern wrote.
The damages from climate change will accelerate as the world
gets warmer, the Stern Review states, with abrupt and large-scale
changes in regional weather patterns such as the monsoon rains in South
Asia or the El Niño phenomenon - changes that would have severe
consequences for water availability and flooding in tropical regions
and threaten the livelihoods of millions of people.
A number of studies suggest that the Amazon rainforest could be
vulnerable to climate change. One model finds that the Amazon
rainforest could be significantly, and possibly irrevocably, damaged by
a warming of 2 - 3°C.
The melting or collapse of ice sheets would eventually threaten land which today is home to one in every 20 people.
Commissioner for Energy Policy, Andris Piebalgs said, "If we
take the right decisions now, Europe can lead the world to a new
industrial revolution - the development of a low carbon economy."
![Piebalgs](EU%20Climate%20Disaster_files/20070110_piebalgsandris.gif) European Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs of Latvia (Photo courtesy Office of the Commissioner)
"Our ambition to create a working internal market, to promote a clean
and efficient energy mix and to make the right choices in research and
development will determine whether we lead this new scenario or we
follow others," Piebalgs said.
Research is also crucial to lower the cost of clean energy and to
put EU industry at the forefront of the rapidly growing low carbon
technology sector. To meet these objectives, the Commission will
propose a strategic European Energy Technology Plan.
The EU will also increase by at least 50 percent its annual spending on energy research for the next seven years.
Energy efficiency is the third pillar of its strategy, and the
Commission emphasized its goal of saving 20 percent of total primary
energy consumption by 2020.
If successful, this would mean that by 2020 the EU would use about 13
percent less energy than today, saving 100 billion euro and around 780
metric tons of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide each year.
The Commission proposes that the use of fuel efficient vehicles
for transport be accelerated. There must be tougher standards and
better labeling on appliances; improved energy performance of the EU's
existing buildings and improved efficiency of heat and electricity
generation, transmission and distribution.
![power plant](EU%20Climate%20Disaster_files/20070110_magnox.jpg) British Nuclear Fuels' Magnox nuclear power plant at Chapelcross (Photo courtesy FreeFoto)
At present, nuclear power makes up 14 percent of EU energy consumption
and 30 percent of EU electricity. While greenhouse gases are not
emitted by the operation of nuclear power plants, the production of
enriched uranium does generate emissions of carbon dioxide, and the
problems of radioactive releases and waste disposal have yet to be
solved.
The Commission proposals underline that it is for each member state to decide whether or not to rely on nuclear energy.
The Commission recommends that where the level of nuclear energy
in the EU is reduced, as it will be in Germany which is phasing out its
nuclear power plants, it must be offset by the introduction of other
low carbon energy sources. Otherwise, the Commission said, the
objective of cutting greenhouse gas emissions will become even more
challenging.
As part of its climate proposals, the Commission would
establish an environmentally safe strategy to promote the industrial
use of carbon capture and storage technology.
It would strengthen and expand the EU emissions trading scheme
and eventually link it with other regional emissions trading markets.
The Commission intends to limit emissions from transport through action focusing on cars, civil aviation and transport fuels.
Reducing CO2 emissions from residential and commercial
buildings, and cutting emissions of the five greenhouse gases other
than carbon dioxide are also important, the Commission said.
The Commission will seek endorsement of these energy and
climate change proposals during the Spring European Council March 8-9
in Brussels and will propose legislation in light of these discussions.
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