Press release - January 23, 2008
Brussels, Belgium — With the release of its climate and energy package of new EU laws today, the European Commission has made a good but faltering start, according to Greenpeace. This package introduces a number of necessary policy overhauls in the fields of climate and energy leading up to the year 2020: binding climate emissions targets, a significant switch to renewable energy sources and incentives for increased efficiency and reduced pollution by European industry.
Greenpeace fully supports the political commitment to boost the uptake of renewable energy. "The realisation of the 20% renewable energy target will be a crucial step towards a clean and secure energy future, leaving outdated coal and nuclear technologies behind," said Frauke Thies, Greenpeace EU policy campaigner for renewable energies. However, the target to increase the use of biofuels in the transport sector to 10% raises serious concerns about its environmental and social impacts and the Commission's standards cannot guarantee adequate sustainability. "The EU target for biofuels is a mistake. Biomass is more efficiently used for electricity and heat production, rather than to fuel high-consumption cars," Frauke Thies concluded.
"This package contains a number of progressive elements but one fundamental drawback: its emissions numbers do not yet add up to a 30% cut," said Mahi Sideridou, Greenpeace's EU climate and energy policy director. "As things stand, EU countries and industry will deliver less climate action than we need, by aiming for an inadequate emissions cut of 20% by 2020. The good news is that the level of its ambition can and must be easily revised upwards." The Commission has included a 'trigger' mechanism in the proposals to increase the EU target as soon as an international climate agreement is made.
Greenpeace is advocating a 30% cut in EU emissions by 2020, compared to 1990 levels, given that this is the target that stems from the EU's decade-long goal of limiting average temperature increase to below 2 degrees Celsius. Furthermore, the 20% reduction target endorsed by the Commission today is weak when compared to the recent Bali agreement, under which developed countries should be reducing their emissions between 25 and 40% by 2020.
The package also includes the new rules for the operation of the EU's emissions trading scheme after 2012. "The Commission fixes some of the major flaws of the existing trading scheme. Most importantly, it decreases the amount of carbon permits that will be handed out for free and sets the same rules for all industry sectors, no matter where they are located in Europe. Yet, in the end the Commission caved in to industry scaremongering and knowingly left some loopholes in its own proposals. We now call on the Parliament and EU governments to eliminate them."
Greenpeace is particularly unhappy about the number and type of climate projects outside the EU that both governments and industry will be allowed to use to offset their emissions. Greenpeace is asking for a minimum 30% cut in EU domestic emissions. Any credits obtained from external projects should be on top of this cut and have a guaranteed environmental benefit.
Finally, Greenpeace has serious concerns about the Commission's position on carbon capture and storage (CCS), a still largely unproven, expensive and potentially dangerous technology that would serve as an excuse to continue building coal plants under the promise that they are 'capture-ready'.
Notes:
A Greenpeace media briefing (22 January) on the European Commission’s climate and energy package is available for download at:
http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/eu-unit/press-centre/policy-papers-briefings/briefing-on-commission-energy-package.pdf