EU backs away from 30% emissions target, leak shows Skip to main content

EU backs away from 30% emissions target, leak shows


Traffic congestion, Brussels (Image: AP) The EU energy road-map did seem to favour a 30% cut if other big emitters followed suit

Related Stories

The European Commission will not call for tougher targets on carbon emmissions despite analysis showing doing so would be cost-effective.
On Tuesday the commission will unveil a road-map on climate and energy policy.
Its own analysis said that an EU target of a 25% cut by 2020 could easily be met, and would be economically better than the existing target of 20%.
However, a senior diplomatic source has told BBC News that the final version will explicitly urge sticking at 20%.
The news has disappointed climate campaigners who accused heavy industries of "scaremongering".
The commission is also set to recommend that some of the 20% reduction can be achieved through buying emission credits from overseas, rather than entirely through cuts at home.
The analysis - leaked in a draft version of the road-map two weeks ago - said the price of carbon should be maintained through "setting aside" some of the allowances to emit that EU nations will receive for the period 2013-2020.
However, the BBC's source said this would not now be the case.
The door will be left open to adopting a 30% target if there is a new global deal under the UN climate negotiations.
Split ambitions

Start Quote

The scaremongering tactics of a handful of industrial lobbyists have successfully castrated Europe's climate ambitions”
End Quote Bryony Worthington Sandbag
The two commission directorates most closely involved in the issue - energy and climate - have been at loggerheads on the EU's ideal scale of ambition.
In the middle of last year, climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard released research showing that the economic slump had reduced emissions so much that the 20% or 30% targets would both be far cheaper to achieve than when they were adopted in 2008.
Emissions from industry, for example, fell by nearly 12% during 2009.
A group of academics calculated that given this fall, meeting the 20% target was tantamount to "business as usual".
Environmental groups have urged that in order to meet its "fair share" of global emissions cuts, and to re-invigorate the UN process, the EU should be contemplating 40%.
But energy commissioner Gunther Oettinger recently declared that going above 20% would lead to the "de-industrialisation" of Europe.
"Yet again it seems the scaremongering tactics of a handful of well connected industrial lobbyists have successfully castrated Europe's climate ambitions," said Baroness (Bryony) Worthington, director of the campaign organisation Sandbag.

Climate change glossary

Select a term to learn more:
Glossary
"The smokestack industries of Europe are wrong when they claim that the only way to meet our targets is through de-industrialisation; investing in new clean energy technologies will actually boost economic activity," she told BBC News.
"They also fail to mention that many of them are handsomely profiting from the sale of spare emissions permits which leave them largely untouched by requirements to reduce emissions."
However, some branches of industry do want tougher targets. Earlier this week, a group of bosses from leading energy companies urged the commission to go for at least 25%.
"As leaders of utility companies we know that the benefits of early action far outweigh the costs of inertia or delayed action," they said.
"Private investors take their signals from such target and... this will deliver more new jobs in innovative environmental and clean technologies and will secure competitive advantage within the borders of the EU."
Short-term worries
Gasometers (Getty Images) Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger said cuts greater than 20% would de-industrialise Europe
Back in 2008, the EU set three parallel targets for 2020:
  • cutting emissions by 20% from 1990 levels
  • delivering at least 20% of its energy from renewable sources
  • increasing energy efficiency by 20%
The bloc is on target to achieve the first two, but not yet the third; and the commission is due shortly to release a document setting out what extra needs to be done to meet it.
Calculations done for the road-map show that if that is achieved on top of the renewables target, emissions will fall 25% from 1990 levels by 2020.
They also show that a 25% cut would set the EU on the most economic pathway to achieving an 80-95% cut by 2050, the agreed long-term goal.
Nevertheless, the BBC's source said, concerns over the short-term impact of such a target meant 20% would be explicitly retained, as would the caveat that international trading could be used to meet it.
Not all of the road-map's wording has been agreed, but the final version is due to be published on Tuesday afternoon.
Member states would then have to ratify it in order for its contents to become official EU policy.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12647657

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Chronology of the Press in Burma

1836 – 1846 * During this period the first English-language newspaper was launched under British-ruled Tenasserim, southern  Burma . The first ethnic Karen-language and Burmese-language newspapers also appear in this period.     March 3, 1836 —The first English-language newspaper,  The Maulmain Chronicle , appears in the city of Moulmein in British-ruled Tenasserim. The paper, first published by a British official named E.A. Blundell, continued up until the 1950s. September 1842 —Tavoy’s  Hsa-tu-gaw  (the  Morning Star ), a monthly publication in the Karen-language of  Sgaw ,  is established by the Baptist mission. It is the first ethnic language newspaper. Circulation reached about three hundred until its publication ceased in 1849. January 1843 —The Baptist mission publishes a monthly newspaper, the Christian  Dhamma  Thadinsa  (the  Religious Herald ), in ...

Thai penis whitening trend raises eyebrows

Image copyright LELUXHOSPITAL Image caption Authorities warn the procedure could be quite painful A supposed trend of penis whitening has captivated Thailand in recent days and left it asking if the country's beauty industry is taking things too far. Skin whitening is nothing new in many Asian countries, where darker skin is often associated with outdoor labour, therefore, being poorer. But even so, when a clip of a clinic's latest intriguing procedure was posted online, it quickly went viral. Thailand's health ministry has since issued a warning over the procedure. The BBC Thai service spoke to one patient who had undergone the treatment, who told them: "I wanted to feel more confident in my swimming briefs". The 30-year-old said his first session of several was two months ago, and he had since seen a definite change in the shade. 'What for?' The original Facebook post from the clinic offering the treatment, which uses lasers to break do...

Sri Bhaddanta Chandramani Mahathera

The Life Story of A Distinguished And Outstanding Bhikkhu The Most Venerable Saradawpharagree Sri Bhaddanta Chandramani Mahathera The Buddhist missionary Saradaw Ashin U Chandramani was endowed with great gifts and led a famous and long life. He was a very well known, distinguished and outstanding Bhikkhu Mahathera. While living in the Kushinagar Monastery, a place close to where the Lord Buddha had passed away to Nirvana, the Government of India had offered, and he had accepted, the highest, most honourable and respected title "Guru Guru MahaGuru". He became the first ever President of all Buddhists in India.A World Buddhist Conference took place in Kathmandu during the reign of King Mahindra of Nepal. The Conference was very well attended by over one hundred thousand Buddhists from various parts of the world and it was opened by King Mahindra himself. As requested by the King, Saradawpharagree blessed all the participants with the power of Triple Gems...