18 June 2008 - Responding to today’s vote on the internal electricity market in Strasbourg, Green MEP for the South East Dr Caroline Lucas said:

"It really is quite extraordinary that in the very same week that David Cameron gave his so-called "green" speech, in which he pledged to implement an Emissions Performance Standard for all new power generation, his own MEPs in Strasbourg refused to support a proposal to do exactly that.

“In a vote today on the Directive on the internal market in electricity, Tory MEPs either abstained, or voted against, a Green Group amendment which would have prohibited new generating capacity with CO2 emissions in excess of 350 grams per kilowatt hour produced.

“Such an emissions ceiling would have ensured a major boost to energy efficiency, and avoided any return to dirty coal in the EU. It is technology-neutral and gives the investor the opportunity to finance whatever is deemed reliable and effective to comply with the target. This may be renewable energy or efficient gas-fired power stations with combined heat and power.  This may also be CCS for coal or investment into energy savings and smart metering before any new power station is built at all."

She concluded: “That neither Labour nor Conservative MEPs supported our amendment is demonstrates that their green rhetoric is little more than hot air.  If you want Green policies, the only effective way to achieve them is to get Green Politicians. "

ENDS