EU Agrees a Deadline For Climate Action
The fight against climate change has moved on considerably in the past year. Today, the debate is less about if, and more about what.
But concrete action has been slow, and whilst the world continues to talk, emissions continue to rise. However, another small but significant step has been made during the past week with an agreement between EU leaders to commit to legislation setting firm targets for a 20% reduction in Co2 emissions before 2020.
Janez Jansa , Prime Minister of Solvenia who currently holds the rotating EU presidency told reporters that EU leaders have taken a “huge step forward” with this agreement.
Beyond emissions reductions, the agreement also seeks to reduce energy imports, liberalise internal energy markets to increase competition, reduce taxes on environmentally friendly products, and to achieve world leadership in renewable energy technologies.
Unsurprisingly, some concerns have been raised. Germany and France, in particular have expressed worries about the impact of emissions reduction legislation on the competitiveness of their industries. EU nations with expensive labour costs such as Germany have struggled in recent years under increased competition from low wage countries in the far East and South America as global competition continues to intensify. France and Germany have recently been at loggerheads over proposed vehicle emissions reductions, amid concerns over the impact on their auto manufacturing industries.
Seeking to arrest these concerns, Jansa stated “We are convinced that the costs of these measures will be much lower than if we don’t act”. Indeed, it looks as if the debate is now moving quickly beyond what to how much?
See also: The Swiss Decide on Global Warming
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