Send to a friend

Fill in the form below and click on the "send" button to e-mail a link to this content.

You can send to UP TO FIVE e-mail addresses by separating them with commas.

Recipient e-mail *
Your name *
Your e-mail *

* required

Europe

Activists display banners claiming 'Coal is a climate killer' inside of the coal power plant. The power plant belongs to Electrabel, one of Europe's leading electricity producer. Electrabel produces unclean electricity with coal and nuclear energy and is uninterested in promoting clean energy such as solar and wind.

Enlarge Image

As one of the biggest global emitters of greenhouse gases, the European Union (EU) must lead the international efforts to stop climate change.

Up to now, the EU has shown vision on the issue of climate change; namely by adopting its position to limit the mean temperature increase to below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and by consistently standing behind the Kyoto Protocol in the face of attacks (led mainly by the US, Australia and the OPEC bloc of oil producing countries).

However, Greenpeace is concerned that the EU's commitment to combating climate change is not central enough to its overall policies. The EU has not sufficiently supported renewable energy and energy efficiency, which are the cheapest, safest, fastest, surest and most environmentally and socially acceptable ways to achieve greenhouse emission reductions in the energy sector. The EU has continued to waste huge sums of money in subsidies for both fossil fuels and nuclear power. On fluorinated gases that damage the climate, the EU has yet to demonstrate the political will to replace them with climate-friendly alternatives.

The EU has adopted a target under the Kyoto Protocol to decrease its greenhouse gas emissions by 8 percent compared to 1990 levels during the commitment period 2008-2012.

The Kyoto Protocol alone will not stop climate change, however. That's why the EU is starting to discuss its post-2012 (post-Kyoto) climate strategy. Greenpeace supports using the Kyoto Protocol as the building block for the post-2012 framework and urges the EU to commit to the following:

To continue to be a climate change leader by showing its willingness and intent to press ahead with the second commitment period of Kyoto.
To adopt legally binding greenhouse gas reduction targets that are consistent with limiting temperature rise to below 2°C. This translates into targets of at least -15 percent by 2015 and at least -30 percent by 2020 (compared to 1990 levels).
To have a long-term vision to achieve greenhouse gas emission reductions of 80 percent by 2050 (compared to 1990 levels).
To ensure that action in all policy areas (especially energy, transport, agriculture, chemicals and development) contributes to staying below 2°C.

The EU Heads of State made a first step to the right direction in March 2005. Read our press release (pdf).

While special efforts must be concentrated on engaging Australia and the principal greenhouse gas emitter, the US, the EU should not wait for these countries before setting its own targets for beyond 2012. It is vital that US inaction is not permitted to block the rest of the world from moving forward.

Some policy recommendations to the EU are outlined below:

The adoption of ambitious, legally binding long-term targets for renewable energy sources and for the decrease of energy consumption,
The removal of market barriers which hinder the growth of clean energy, including putting an immediate end to subsidies for dirty energy sources (fossil fuels and nuclear energy),
The reform of national Export Credit Agencies (ECA) so that they give priority to renewable energy development and energy efficiency programmes. All energy sector financial support has to include targets for the uptake of renewable energy as a reliable, modern energy source for on-grid, industrial and residential applications,
A rapid phase-out of the extremely potent "fluorinated" gases in all applications (refrigeration, air conditioning, foams, etc).