Global IssuesCLIMATE CHANGE: 'From EU, 4 Percent Less Reduction Till 2020'
Greenhouse gas emissions from the European Union may fall by as little as four percent between now and 2020 as a result of a new decision by the bloc's law-makers.
In a Dec. 17 vote, members of the European Parliament (MEPs) approved the broad thrust of a package of measures to address climate change agreed by the EU's governments last week.
Officially, this commits the Union's 27 countries to reducing its emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other gases that trigger climate change by 20 percent below 1990 levels by the end of the next decade. As part of an objective known as the 'triple 20 percent', the EU has also pledged to boost energy efficiency by 20 percent and to ensure that 20 percent of its energy derives from renewable sources.
Yet the small print of the Parliament's decision allows the bulk of CO2 reductions to be 'off-set' by financing 'clean development' projects outside the EU's borders. An integral part of the package known as the 'effort-sharing law' is especially reliant on offsetting.
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has calculated that the actual emission cuts achieved within the Union could be only four or five percent by 2020. Its estimate is based on data from the bloc's own environment agency estimating that an 8 percent cut took place in the Union between 1990 and 2006. Of the remaining 12 percent cut required to attain the 20 percent objective, most could be undertaken abroad.
'The 20 percent target sounds nice in words,' said WWF spokeswoman Delia Villagrasa. 'But it is void because EU countries are allowed to accomplish approximately three-quarters of the effort outside EU borders.'
WWF argued that the deal is not sufficient to comply with the Union's stated objective of preventing global temperatures from rising more than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. If the EU's example is replicated throughout the world, Greenland's ice sheet will melt in its entirety and the future of many cities will be jeopardised by rising sea levels.
Greenpeace climate change specialist Joris den Blanken concurred. 'The effort-sharing law allows so much offsetting outside the EU that I don't think it even qualifies as EU legislation any more,' he said.
'Haphazardly planting trees in Africa so we can continue spewing out carbon emissions in Europe is not the solution to climate change. Offsetting means exporting responsibilities to the developing world and removes the incentive for industry to improve efficiency and invest in renewable energy. It does nothing to reduce our dependence on expensive fossil fuels like gas from Russia, and won't reduce our energy bills.'
Within the Parliament, senior figures in its largest political groups depicted the results of their vote as a victory for the environment.
Joseph Daul, leader of the centre-right European People's Party, said the assembly had taken a 'historic step in the fight against climate change, which threatens to make life unbearable on our planet.'
He predicted that the decision would benefit international efforts -- scheduled to culminate with a December 2009 conference in the Danish capital Copenhagen -- to thrash out a new climate change accord. 'Thanks to the vote in the European Parliament today, Europe is putting itself in the frontline in the fight to save the environment,' he added.
Swedish Liberal MEP Lena Ek echoed his view. 'In a period when we have to go through an economic crisis, this package is a win-win situation,' she said. 'The green investments will create jobs and give our industry a lead. By adopting this set of measures, we have confirmed Europe's leadership in tackling global warming.'
But left-leaning deputies argued that the concerns of Italy, Germany and Poland to avoid short-term pain for polluting industries had resulted in the package being weakened. Daniel Cohn-Bendit, president of the Parliament's Green group, argued that the package in its latest form will not lead to the required change in lifestyle, such as less use of '4x4' vehicles with an insatiable appetite for fuel.
'The compromise on the table is one weakened by national selfishness,' he said. 'The triple 20 percent climate targets have been diluted to legitimise a 4X4 economy.'
Another part of the package endorsed by MEPs requires car makers to bring down the amount of CO2 released by their vehicles. While the average newly manufactured car now emits 160 grams per kilometre, this would fall to 130 g/km by 2012.
But ecological campaigners are perturbed that the fines that will be imposed on car makers who do not respect the pollution threshold will be considerably less onerous than those originally envisaged. Under plans put forward by the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, companies would have to pay 20 euros (28 dollars) for every gram above the limit, rising to 95 euros. But intense lobbying from the car industry and sympathetic governments like Italy has seen the basic fine slashed to 5 euros.
Jos Dings from the European Federation on Transport and Environment said that the new level is so low that it will not force manufacturers to respect the pollution limits. 'A law is only a law if it has an effective compliance regime,' he said. 'What we have here is a compliance regime that is pretty laughable.'
© Inter Press Service (2008) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service