Archived press release

EU must set tough climate change targets

7 March 2007

London, 7 March 2007 - Friends of the Earth is demanding that EU governments set a target for cutting domestic emissions of greenhouse gases, when they settle Europe's energy future at the EU Spring Council in Brussels at the end of this week. The environmental organisation is calling for cuts of at least 30 per cent by 2020.

The Heads of State look set to adopt a target for the EU to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020, from to 1990 levels, despite their acceptance that cuts of 30 per cent are actually needed if we are to avoid catastrophic climate change.

Friends of the Earth's international climate campaigner, Catherine Pearce, said:

"The EU must show leadership in the fight against climate change by setting tough targets for itself. Heads of State know that 30 per cent cuts are needed, yet they look likely to agree on cuts of just 20 per cent. They must also set binding, rather than voluntary, targets for sourcing renewable energy."

"Europe could save a huge amount of energy by cutting emissions by 20 per cent, but EU governments constantly fail to agree concrete steps to achieve this. They must swap their grand words with real action, based on binding targets and powerful legislation."

The EU is likely to adopt a target of sourcing 20 percent of energy from renewable sources by 2020. Friends of the Earth continues to push for this target to be higher [1] and for it to be toughened into a binding target. The environmental campaign group warns that binding and separate sub-targets of 35% for electricity production and 25% for the heating and cooling sector are needed. Without these, the required cuts will not happen - a problem that even the European Commission itself has acknowledged. [2]

The European Commission and Energy Ministers have acknowledged that Europe has the potential to cut emissions by 20 percent by 2020 through energy efficiency. No doubt the Heads of States will reiterate this on Friday, but Friends of the Earth underlines that governments have so far failed to firm up this potential into an actual target. No concrete commitment has yet been made by Member States that they will actually take action to achieve this 20 percent saving.

As EU leaders agree on the Energy Action Plan on Friday, hundreds of activists from fifteen countries across Europe will form a Giant EU Energy Flag right outside the meeting, demanding that governments "Stop Climate Change. Cut energy waste. Choose renewables."

Notes

[1] For more information, see www.foeeurope.org/giant_eu_energy_flag/FoEE_EU_Council_giant_ ¬
energy_flag_action_MEDIA_INVITATION_090307.pdf (PDF)

[2] The EU is capable of achieving 25 percent renewables share given the technological improvements and opportunities that exist. ("Target 2020 - Policies and Measures to reduce GHG in the EU"; Wuppertal Institute and WWF 2005; see http://assets.panda.org/downloads/target_2020_low_res.pdf (PDF†) )
The European Parliament has also adopted a resolution calling for a target of 25 percent renewable share (February 14th 2007):
www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP// ¬
TEXT+TA+P6-TA-2007-0038+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN

[3] The European Commission's own impact assessment of the proposed "Renewable Energy Roadmap" concludes that failing to agree sector-specific targets will delay technological development and commercial deployment of renewable energies and increase climate change abatement costs in the long-term. It notes that "a single broad target is too unfocused and would fail to provide sufficient guidance and certainty to businesses operating in specific sector of the market."
See 'Renewable Energy Roadmap - Impact Assessment', SEC (2006) 1719. Furthermore, the European Parliament has adopted a resolution calling for sector specific targets for heating and cooling and electricity (February 14th 2007):
www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP// ¬
TEXT+TA+P6-TA-2007-0038+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN

Friends of the Earth's Director, Tony Juniper and Friends of the Earth's International climate campaigner, Catherine Pearce are available for interview in Brussels

†To view PDF files you will need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader. Visually impaired users can get extra help with these documents from access.adobe.com.

If you're a journalist looking for press information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust