Published: 24 Jan 2008
Professor Jacqueline McGlade, Executive
Director of the European Environment Agency
(EEA), highlights the importance of the
Climate and Energy
Package unveiled yesterday by the European
Commission in Brussels. 'The rapid response
of the Commission to the decision of last
March's European Council shows a clear determination
to sharply reduce emissions of greenhouse
gases by at least 20 % between 11000 and
2020. The proposed package, including effort
sharing amongst EU Member States, is an
important step in the context of the post-2012
global climate change negotiations'. These
discussions are expected to conclude in
Copenhagen by the end of 2009.
The climate change and
energy package is a bundle of legislative
proposals intended to fight global warming
and limit the increased dependence of the
European Union on imported energy. The package
addresses renewable energies, including
biofuels; how the overall EU greenhouse
gas target will be shared between Member
States; a revision of the EU Emissions Trading
Scheme (EU ETS), and a directive proposal
on how to implement carbon capture and storage
at power generation plants.
The EEA strongly supports
the proposal for an overall binding target
of a 20 % share of renewable energy in the
total final energy consumption in the EU,
recognising that a significant increase
compared to the current level is needed
to achieve the 2020 climate objectives,
while, at the same time, contributing to
enhance the security of energy supply in
Europe.
'The key to getting
the most out of these targets is to ensure
that the highest possible GHG emission reduction
is achieved, particularly if we want to
see 10 % of road transport running on biofuels
by 2020. I believe that there is now a need
for further discussion on the sustainability
criteria for biofuels in the legislative
proposal. These criteria must ensure that
biodiversity, water and soil are protected,
and not just within Europe, but also in
developing countries which are likely to
become major biofuels exporters.'
The Commission package
improves the EU Trading Scheme (EU ETS),
the largest GHG emission trading scheme
worldwide. This system is a pioneer tool
to achieve carbon emission reductions from
large installations using fossil fuel. Further
efforts to link the EU ETS to other similar
trading systems in third countries also
contribute to worldwide greenhouse gas reduction
measures. 'Setting an EU-wide cap on emissions
from the trading sector and an increased
use of auctioning of carbon allowances can
help meet the 2020 emission reduction targets
in a cost-effective way'.
Professor McGlade confirms
that climate change adaptation and mitigation
are top priorities for the EEA. She underlines
that decision makers will continue to get
timely and accurate information on these
important issues.
