EU climate deal 'puts polluters before people'
Brussels, October 24 – European governments are tonight claiming to have agreed ambitious action to cut greenhouse gas emissions, boost renewables and reduce energy use by 2030.
But the targets set by the EU’s 28 heads of state are far below what is necessary and what could be done by Europe to combat climate change, according to Friends of the Earth Europe.
The deal commits the EU to cut emissions by at least 40%, provide at least 27% of the EU's energy from renewable sources, and reduce energy consumption by at least 27%.
Brook Riley, climate justice and energy campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe,commented: "To describe 40% emissions cuts as adequate or ambitious, as EU leaders are doing, is dangerously irresponsible. 40% is off the radar of climate science. This deal does nothing to end Europe’s dependency on fossil fuels or to speed up our transition to a clean energy future. It’s a deal that puts dirty industry interests ahead of citizens and the planet.”
Only the 40% emissions reduction target will be broken down into 28 nationally binding targets. The renewables target will be binding at EU level, and there is no clarity how it will be implemented. The energy savings target is only indicative.
The 27% target for energy efficiency ignores analysis by the European Commission showing that higher ambition is better for jobs, the economy and energy security [1].
Gas imports are expected to fall by just 12% with a 27% target, compared to 22% with a 30% target and 40% with a 40% target [2].
Brook Riley continued: "A 27% non-binding energy savings target means slowing down progress on energy efficiency at a time when Europe is facing energy insecurity and is considering dangerous and costly alternatives, like shale gas, tar sands and nuclear, to meet demand."
Molly Walsh, climate justice and energy campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe said:"The renewable energy target represents barely more than business-as-usual and will send a dangerous signal to national governments that EU renewables policy is being abandoned. The EU can achieve a much higher share for renewables by involving citizens in producing and controlling their own energy but this potential is being blocked by dirty energy corporations.”
Friends of the Earth Europe believes three binding targets is the only way to ensure Europe effectively fulfills its responsibilities to tackle climate change. Emissions must be reduced by at least 60% by 2030 to deliver the EU’s fair share of action and be in line with the latest science, and there must be binding targets to reduce energy use by 50% and increase the share of energy produced by renewables to 45%.
Additionally, the EU needs to provide new, additional financial and technological support for climate action in developing countries. Only action on this scale will bring about the energy transition needed to avoid the worst consequences of climate change
***
NOTES:
Friends of the Earth Europe, Oxfam, Climate Action Network Europe, and the European Environmental Bureau were outside the summit today to protest about the lack of action being proposed to move Europe away from fossil fuels.
Dressed as corporate lobbyists, they constructed a huge blockade of leaky oil barrels and bags of coal, to symbolise the dirty energy companies blocking action on climate change. Photos available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/foeeurope/sets/72157648519429630/
[1] http://ec.europa.eu/energy/efficiency/events/doc/2014_eec_ia_adopted_part1.pdf
[2] http://www.foeeurope.org/reality-2030-energy-savings-targets-revealed-011014
WWF
EU leaders out of touch with climate reality
(GLAND, Switzerland) - Europe’s new climate and energy targets for the period 2020–2030 show a leadership out of touch with climate reality, said WWF’s Global Climate and Energy initiative leader Samantha Smith.
“The reality is that climate change already threatens people and nature. Yet the scale of ambition we need to tackle climate change is missing from the emission reduction, renewable energy and energy efficiency targets announced today by the EU Council. We are still waiting for targets that will fight climate pollution and drive rapid, just divestment out of fossil fuels and into the renewable, efficient economy of the future,” she says.
“The world just experienced the warmest six months ever recorded. Severe heatwaves and flash floods are now hallmarks of European seasons; already developing countries are experiencing severe impacts of climate change. For both, the worst is yet to come.
“This climate reality and the latest climate science call for drastic action by governments – and the EU has failed its citizens and the citizens of the world by caving in to vested and political interests. We can only hope that European leaders will rise to the challenge in 2015, when they submit the EU’s targets for cutting climate pollution to the global negotiations for a climate agreement,” says Smith.
“But what makes the weak package even worse is that ambitious climate and energy targets would have massive benefits for EU citizens - less pollution, better health and fewer premature deaths, as well as new, more secure job opportunities and energy independence. The EU has missed a big opportunity to reclaim its global leadership position and set the pace to a new global climate deal in Paris in December 2015,” she says.
"European leaders are sacrificing our futures on the altar of politics, and the coming months will be crucial to avoid the worst implications of this decision," says WWF’s head of EU climate and energy policy Jason Anderson. “The EU will need to review its target, as it is asking other countries in the UN to do. Those Member States who see the benefits of climate action will try to fill the void with domestic policy, but action will be fractured, and an EU policy response will be necessary.”
OXFAM
Europe must review climate targets after weak climate package deal
Today European leaders met in Brussels to agree an EU climate and energy package up until 2030.
Leaders decided to curb C02 emissions by at least 40%, increase the amount of renewable energy in the mix to at least 27%, and set a non-binding target to reduce energy demand by at least 27%.
In response to the announcement of the deal, Natalia Alonso, Oxfam’s Deputy Director of Advocacy & Campaigns, said:
“Today’s target of at least 40% of emissions reductions is welcome but only a first step, which falls far too short of what the EU needs to do to pull its weight in the fight against climate change. Insufficient action like this from the world's richest countries places yet more burden on the poorest people most affected by climate change, but least responsible for causing this crisis.
“By leaving the possibility to increase the 40% target as part of the international negotiations, European leaders such as Merkel and Cameron acknowledge that what has been proposed is inadequate – today's deal must set the floor not the ceiling of European action, and they must arrive in Paris with a more serious offer.
“It is shocking that business leaders called for higher -and binding- targets than those agreed by EU leaders.
“EU leaders had an historic opportunity to shape a smarter, fairer, more sustainable future through a clear shift towards renewable energy and energy efficiency today. Instead, they have been held back by the fossil fuel industry and their friends, settling for an underwhelming response that keeps the EU stuck in the energy and climate crisis.
“Leaders have agreed to slow down Europe’s energy saving effort and renewable energy development. This so-called ‘climate package’ could subsidise coal to the tune of billions of Euros.
“Despite this, European leaders still have the opportunity to redeem themselves by reviewing their emissions targets as early as possible next year and ensuring all EU countries commit the money needed to help poorer countries deal with climate change.”
Demands by business leaders on EU Heads of State on the EU 2030 climate & energy package:
- 11 big European companies -including Philips, Ikea, Spar and Unilever- called on EU leaders to agree on three binding targets – ‘well beyond a’ 40% target on greenhouse gas emissions cuts and at least a 40% target on renewable energy and energy efficiency. Read the letter.
- 49 companies through the European Alliance to Save Energy called for a 40% energy saving target.Read the letter.
- Members of The Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group (CLG) called on the EU to support a target of at least a 40% reduction in CO2 emissions in Europe, and 50% if other countries take comparable action. It also supports targets of at least a binding 30% target for renewables deployment and at least 30% for energy savings. Read their statement.
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) called for at least 3 targets of at least 40% greenhouse emissions cut, at least 30% of renewable energy and at least 40% of energy savings, with EU targets to be translated in national binding targets. Read their position.
Oxfam’s latest report Food, Fossil Fuels and Filthy Finance reveals:
- 80% of global CO2 emissions come from fossil fuels, which are driving climate change and making people hungry.
- People around the world are trapped in a ‘toxic triangle’ made up of short-term financial investors, timid governments and fossil fuel companies, which threatens to push up global temperatures, putting 400 million people at risk of hunger and drought by 2060.
- Dirty fossil fuel companies spent more than €44 million last year lobbying the EU to block action on climate change.
CARE
EU fails to show true leadership to avert global climate disruption, but offers small ‘glimmer of hope’
(24 October) Commenting on last night’s agreement from EU Heads of State and Government on the 2030 climate and energy framework, CARE’s Climate Change Advocacy Coordinator Sven Harmeling said:
“Instead of putting an end to the global leadership vacuum on climate change, which could have triggered a step change in ambition to tackle the climate crisis, the EU has left poor countries and communities around the world with just a glimmer of hope that Europe will do its fair share of the heavy lifting needed to avert climate catastrophe. Regrettably, EU leaders have shown they are not willing to fight tooth and nail to reduce emissions with the level of courage that science tells us we urgently need.”
He continues: “The agreement – to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% by 2030 – is half-baked, the EU can and should have gone further to show that major emitting countries are serious about avoiding large-scale climate disruption. Instead, the EU may be ushering in a new era of loss and damage from climate change impacts which is already, and will increasingly, hit billions of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people hardest – this is an extreme, global, injustice.”
Nonetheless, CARE says there is still window of opportunity for stronger EU action. The final agreement commits EU states to emissions reductions of “at least” 40%, leaving the door open for the EU to engage with the rest of the world and agree to a truly ambitious global climate agreement next year in Paris.
Sven Harmeling adds: “This is the one glimmer of hope. Those leaders who have fought for a more ambitious outcome in Brussels should not give in to the low ambition demonstrated by the rest of the EU. Rather, they should focus their efforts on weaning their own economies off fossil fuels and shifting to renewable energies.” This would give the communities, institutions and corporations who are already moving towards cleaner energy the support they need to take even more action, Harmeling says.
The EU’s decision comes just weeks before the UN climate conference (COP20) takes place in Peru. COP20 is expected to be a major milestone on the road to the 2015 climate summit in Paris where all governments aim to conclude a new global climate change agreement. All countries are expected to announce in the first quarter of 2015 what they are planning to do to reduce emissions after 2020.
Sven Harmeling concludes: “In the eyes of the world, the EU has now taken the first step towards a 2015 agreement by putting post-2020 emissions reductions figures on the table, but it has not gone far enough in the fight to avoid large-scale global climate disruption. CARE urges other developed countries and major emitters to go even further – the EU’s decisions must not be an excuse for others to take a back seat.”
“There is no time to lose. If we do not act now, the human and economic costs will be much higher in the future. To set the right tone ahead of 2015, the EU must now step up its efforts over the coming weeks and put new and additional climate finance on the table to help poor and vulnerable nations adapt to climate impacts. Otherwise, the world’s poorest people will be left to face the consequences of climate change alone
CHRISTIAN AID
EU HEADS OF STATE STEP IN RIGHT DIRECTION ON CARBON TARGETS
Christian Aid today welcomed a new EU package of climate and energy targets agreed at a Brussels heads of state meeting in the early hours, saying the decision to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by ‘at least’ 40 per cent by 2030 was ‘a good start’.
It warned, however, that further cuts will be needed if global temperature rises are to be kept below 2oC – the point beyond which scientists predict climate chaos.
Dr Alison Doig, Christian Aid’s senior adviser on climate change, described the agreed emissions reduction (below 1990 levels) as a promising first move towards a global climate deal to be agreed next year.
But she added: “The important words in the agreement are ‘at least’, as ideally the EU will need to ratchet up its target as global negotiations move forward. Forty per cent is the bare minimum if EU states are to play a full role in keeping the global temperature rise down.
“It is essential now that all EU countries refocus their energy strategies away from the burning of fossil fuels towards sustainable and renewable sources such as solar, wind and tide. If the energy strategies don’t change, then even that target will not be met.
“It is encouraging that countries which continue to depend on coal power, such as Poland, were not able to reduce the target as they had threatened, although concessions were made to keep them on board,” added Dr Doig.
“The UK, together with France, Germany and Sweden each played a significant part in holding the line. The EU needs to be ahead of the curve on developing and implementing clean, modern energy if it is to be a global market leader.”
Agreeements were also reached that the EU would source 27 per cent of its energy from renewables by 2030, together with a 27 per cent target of energy efficiency improvements over the same period.
The EU package, Dr Doig hoped, will help smooth the path of the latest round of global negotiations at the UN climate summit in Lima, Peru next month. That summit in turn needs to make real progress if a deal is to be reached at the final round of negotiations in Paris in a year’s time.
“Distrust between rich and poor countries has dogged negotiations over a global deal in recent years, with developing countries demanding that states that have grown rich through polluting face up to their responsibility for causing much of the problem in the first place,” said Dr Doig.
“Richer countries must show they are prepared to play a major role in tackling global warming if talks are to succeed.”
Notes:
1. Christian Aid works in some of the world's poorest communities in around 50 countries at any one time. We act where there is great need, regardless of religion, helping people to live a full life, free from poverty. We provide urgent, practical and effective assistance in tackling the root causes of poverty as well as its effects.
2. Christian Aid’s core belief is that the world can and must be changed so that poverty is ended: this is what we stand for. Everything we do is about ending poverty and injustice: swiftly, effectively, sustainably. Our strategy document Partnership for Change www.christianaid.org.uk/images/partnership-for-change-summary.pdf explains how we set about this task.
3. Christian Aid is a member of the ACT Alliance, a global coalition of more than 130 churches and church-related organisations that work together in humanitarian assistance, advocacy and development. Further details athttp://actalliance.org
4. Follow Christian Aid's newswire on Twitter: http://twitter.com/caid_newswire
5. For more information about the work of Christian Aid, visit http://www.christianaid.org.uk
