EU Looks Set To Fail Key Post-Bali Test, Warns Green Euro-MP As Commission Finally Prepares To Unveil Policy Package
22 January 2008
Commenting on the proposals to be announced tomorrow, Dr Lucas said: “The EU must ensure that it maintains ambition on its climate targets, so that this new package – which already falls short of what is needed – does not prove to be full of empty promises.
“In the proposals on emissions trading, Member States have committed to a 30% greenhouse gas reduction by 2020 – the reduction scientists agree is the minimum necessary – assuming an international agreement is reached. The most crucial aspect of the Emissions Trading Scheme for meeting the reductions target is the emissions cap, which must be based on this 30% reduction target.
“Sadly, the leaked Commission proposals show that the use of CDM/JI and other external credits will be permitted towards even the 20% unilateral target. This is in stark contradiction to the Bali decisions where the EU recognised that keeping climate change to below 2 degrees requires reductions at the very least in the range of 25-40% for industrialised countries by 2020. Thus the EC runs thus the risk of rendering the ETS a toothless instrument.
She continued: "The lessons from the first round of the ETS must be learned. We must insist on full auctioning for the power sector and oil refineries – this is essential for the avoidance of undue windfall profits to those sectors. Auctioning should be the general rule for allocation. Revenues from auctioning – around 50 billion euro per year – should be used by Member States to develop effective climate strategies in Europe and elsewhere. We should be financing efficiency improvements in buildings and houses, renewable energies, technology transfer, and measures to tackle deforestation.
“At the Bali climate talks, the international community made a commitment to achieve a comprehensive post-2012 climate agreement by 2009. If such an agreement is insufficient to prevent unfair environmental dumping to EU energy-intensive sectors, a climate levy should be introduced with the revenue invested in a climate adaptation fund - or a requirement to buy EU emissions allowances corresponding to imports from those sectors (from countries without reduction commitments for the corresponding sectors)."
Furthermore, Dr Lucas criticised the short-sightedness of Member States on the fledgling renewables industry and called for stronger legislation which puts development of renewables at the core of energy policy.
"Member States have been balking at potential renewables targets for some time now, but expanding renewables is not some punitive means of achieving climate goals – it is a key means of reducing our dependence on imported fossil fuels and creating jobs in Europe.
She continued: "Crucially, the target is based on final consumption, so if you reduce consumption, the target will be easier to meet. Therefore energy saving and energy efficiency are central to meeting the target."
On the specific EU target for agro-fuels, Dr Lucas concluded:
"The warning signs have been there from the beginning but there is now a growing consensus among experts, even within the Commission, that agro-fuels are not a panacea for our climate and energy problems. Worse than that, this generation of ‘biofuels’ risks wreaking serious social and environmental damage without delivering any real emissions reductions.
“The oft-discussed sustainability criteria are very difficult to enforce and, based on current drafts, would not guarantee any net emissions reductions in the short-term.
“The exemption from environmental sustainability criteria until 2013 for biofuels produced by installations that were in operation in January 2008 is completely unacceptable, as is the proposal that Member States cannot determine their own broader sustainability criteria. The 10% target for biofuels (by 2020) is already an anachronism. Member States must scrap it, and replace their current biofuels policy with a more sustainable alternative."
ENDS
