Toespraak van Eurocommissaris Stavros Dimas over het Europees Klimaatbeleid (en) - Hoofdinhoud

SPEECH/08/196

Member of the European Commission, responsible for environment

EU activities on Climate Change

Corporate Breakfast in the Centre for European Policy Studies

Brussels, 15 April 2008

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a pleasure to be here with you this morning at the CEPS breakfast and I would like to thank you for giving me this opportunity to outline the main issues ahead of us this year for EU climate policy. 2008 has the potential of becoming a defining year for climate policy, in the EU as well as at international level. In March 2007, the European Council set out ambitious and binding targets for the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions and its share of renewable energy. The Climate Action and Energy package presented by the Commission on the 23rd of January provides the means to meet these targets.

The European Council and Parliament have confirmed the Commission’s objective that the package should be adopted this year. It is a realistic but ambitious task we have ahead of us. The credibility of EU climate policy, and thus its international leadership, depends on our ability to bring discussions in Parliament and Council to a successful outcome. This will send a strong political message to our international partners, and confirm that what the EU says at international level is backed up by concrete measures at home.

The EU's overriding priority remains an ambitious and comprehensive international climate agreement for the post 2012 period. The 'Bali Roadmap' opens the way for official negotiations covering all our partners. The task ahead of us is to reach an agreement that is as ambitious as science tells us it must be if we are to prevent climate change from reaching devastating levels over the coming decades. That means an agreement that limits global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial temperature.

The first round of discussions in Bangkok two weeks ago confirms the commitment of the international community to act and the real sense of urgency that is now being felt to combat climate change. It is very encouraging to see that all partners are ready to intensify their efforts towards a global deal. But Bangkok also highlighted the considerable ground that still needs to be covered before we reach an agreement in Copenhagen in December 2009. The weeks and months ahead of us will see a range of important international gatherings, starting with the Major Economies meeting this week in Paris, the G8 environment minister’s meeting and the G8 Hokkaido summit in July. The G8 summit provides a timely and valuable opportunity to assert the political leadership of G8 countries in the fight against climate change thereby sending a constructive message to the rest of our partners.

These meetings can all make an important contribution to the UN process, which remains the only forum for a comprehensive post-2012 agreement. A common understanding is needed on our long-term objective to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 50% in 2050 compared to 1990 emissions. In the medium term, we need binding targets for developed countries in order to get us on the right track. The EU will act in full compliance with the guiding principle enshrined in the UN framework convention of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capacities. We all have a stake in fighting climate change but it is the responsibility of developed countries to lead by taking on absolute and economy-wide reduction targets of a binding nature.

This brings us to the next UN climate conference in Poznan in December this year where the international community will have to deal with key issues for the next international climate agreement. Poznan will be give us an opportunity to stake stock of where we stand and, in particular, look at the policy options considered during 2008 so that we can move towards real negotiations in 2009. Finance and access to technologies will be high on the Poznan agenda, as will deforestation which I believe merits special attention. It will not be possible to fight climate change without strong and resolute action to tackle deforestation. This is one of the "building blocks" of the EU's climate policy and the Commission will produce a policy Communication setting out the main lines of a European approach on deforestation towards the end of this year. In a separate initiative, the Commission will also make a legal proposal to restrict the marketing of illegal timber on the EU market.

As I have already mentioned, the adoption of the Climate Action and Renewable Energy package this year would put the EU in a position of strength in the international negotiations. Climate change has deservedly raised to the top of the EU agenda. It has the potential of becoming a new landmark of European integration. The fight against climate change reaches far beyond the environmental dimension – it goes at the very heart of our energy policy, our industrial production, our agriculture, or to put it simply at our way of life. President Barroso has talked about a new industrial revolution, and as in the 19th century where Europe led the way to our industrialised societies, the winners will be those that anticipate and go in the lead. The competitiveness of the European economy will be determined by the progress that we make towards a low carbon economy built on resource and energy efficiency.

The Climate Action and Renewable Energy package is an important contribution to this process. It sets the EU’s climate and renewable energy objectives for 2020, and provides the necessary legal tools to reach these objectives.

The package takes as its starting point a cut of emissions of 20%. This is a unilateral commitment from the EU. But what has received less attention is that it also puts in place the arrangements for scaling up the emissions reduction to 30% once a global agreement is reached.

This is crucial because it is a 30% cut in collective emissions from developed countries that are needed by 2020 if we are to have a chance of stopping global warming before it reaches dangerous levels. 30% is what EU leaders have endorsed, 30% is what we argued for in Bali, and 30% is what we will continue arguing for as the next step towards a necessary reduction in global emissions of at least half by 2050.

I am sure you are all very familiar with the main elements of the Climate Action and Renewable Energy package, and I will therefore not take any time from our discussion by a comprehensive presentation of all its details. Let me however shortly focus on the EU emissions trading system (ETS) as our main tool to drive investments towards clean technology.

The EU emission trading scheme strikes a balance between ambitious climate targets and economic concerns. It is a blueprint for those countries that want to develop their own systems, and to which we should link to construct a global emission trading system.

The revision of the ETS directive creates a truly European market based on the principle of cost-efficiency. The same conditions apply to all installations, wherever they are located in the EU. Allocations will be based on common EU-wide rules, avoiding distortions on the internal market and bringing down the cost of reaching our greenhouse gas targets.

Auctioning as the main tool for allocation will foster innovation and reward efficient companies. Full auctioning should be applied as of 2013 for the power sector. For industrial installations a more gradual introduction of auctioning is foreseen, giving them time to adjust.

The Commission’s proposal also deals with the specific situation of energy-intensive industries, as these are an important part of the debate about the package. Energy-intensive industries tend to operate in a highly competitive international market and are therefore less able to pass on costs. In case their competitors are not subject to similar carbon constraints, they risk losing market shares. This is something we should avoid, not only on economic grounds but also for environmental reasons as carbon leakage would increase global emissions.

The Commission will take all appropriate measures. I would however stress that the sectors which are concerned by the risk of carbon leakage should be determined in an objective manner. This should be based on a full assessment of the available data, further research and stakeholder consultation. The Commission will also need to develop the appropriate criteria for identifying energy-intensive industries, taking into account that any specific provisions for those industries should be limited to the cases where they are truly justified.

Work has already started with a first stakeholder consultation last week. This work will allow the Commission to develop the necessary method and, on this basis, set up a list of vulnerable sectors or sub-sectors in 2010 when we have a better overview and more complete information.

The next step will be to assess the situation based on the outcome of international agreement or any sectoral agreements that may have been concluded. On the basis of that assessment, the Commission will submit a report to the European Parliament and to the Council by 2011 and propose measures if necessary. Such measures could cover free allocations possibly up to 100% or the inclusion of importers in the ETS.

The Commission’s Climate Action and Renewable Energy package is guided by the equal principles of efficiency and fairness. This should take full account of the different economic starting points of our Member States, and in particular the prospects for growth in the new Member States. This is why the Commission proposal for effort sharing, covering all sectors not included in emission trading, uses per capita GDP as a basis to reach the overall objective of cutting emissions by 10% in these sectors.

This implies serious efforts from all Member States. Member States that currently have the lowest per capita GDP will have to take measures to reduce the growth of their emissions. They are however allowed to increase their total emissions to take into account their prospects for economic growth and the opportunities offered by EU membership. Within emission trading, a share of auctioning rights from wealthier Member States will also be transferred to the new Member States to give them new financial resources to take concrete measures to reduce carbon intensity and cushion social and economic impacts. The Climate and Renewable Energy package therefore provides for more solidarity within the EU in our common fight against climate change.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am confident that Member States and the European Parliament are fully committed to a swift adoption of the Climate Action and Renewable Energy package. The conclusions of the European Council, aiming at an agreement in 2008, and the preparatory work in the European Parliament are very encouraging. The Commission stand ready to do its part.

EU leadership will be instrumental for an international climate agreement which I am convinced can be reached in Copenhagen in 2009. With the start of the international negotiations it is now even more critical that the EU continues to lead global action by example.