EU summit: Concrete measures needed to add flesh to the bones of EU climate and energy targets
Following the outcome of the Spring European Council today and its conclusions on EU energy and climate policy, Greens energy spokesperson Claude Turmes said:
"EU leaders have today committed to take climate change seriously. With scientific evidence making clear that developed countries must reduce their emissions by at least 30% by 2020, it is crucial that the EU designs its climate and energy policies to deliver this target. Chancellor Merkel must use her presidency of the G8 to ensure that other developed countries are brought on board, so the EU can revise its emissions target upwards as soon as possible (1).
"We welcome the fact that seriously expanding renewables has been clearly placed as the top priority in adapting the EU energy supply mix to the fight against climate change. A binding 20% target for renewable energy by 2020 will mean that 35% of our electricity and 25% of our heating and cooling will come from renewable sources."
German Green and energy spokesperson Rebecca Harms added:
"If deep emissions cuts are to be realised, the EU will have to add flesh to the bones of the overall targets sooner, rather than later. This means setting out concrete measures at EU level designed to meet these targets and not leaving this to the national-level. The buildings sector accounts for 40% of EU emissions, an EU directive on heating and cooling setting out how the renewables target will be met must be fast-tracked. It is regrettable that the summit ignored transport, which accounts for 30% of EU emissions. Here again, we need strong EU measures and the planned legislation on car emissions will be the acid test of how serious the EU is about combating climate change.
"Despite the efforts of the nuclear lobby, through its outgoing proxy Chirac, the EU has made clear that nuclear is not part of the solution to climate change. The nuclear industry will continue to try and re-label its product, but changing the label won't change the fact that it is the same old, dirty technology. It is important that the EU does not get distracted by the nuclear red herring (2)."
Editors notes:
(1) EU leaders agreed to a reduction in emissions of at least 20% by 2020, with this to be increased if other developed countries also commit to the necessary 30% reductions.
(2) The French proposal for a 40-45% "low carbon" target by 2020 does not fly at all. Assuming, that the 20% renewables target is reached, the rest of this 40-45% would have to come from nuclear energy. It is widely accepted that carbon capture and sequestration for coal will not be commercially available before 2020. Except maybe for one reactor in Finland, no new nuclear reactors would be built before 2012 (based on the highly optimistic assumption of a minimum 6-7 years from planning to operation). In order to get 20% to 25% of the whole energy in the EU-27 from nuclear power, this would roughly mean building 30-40 GW new nuclear capacity in addition to the nuclear plants to be closed by 2020. This would mean between 20 to 40 additional new nuclear power plants to be built in 8 years. This would require the building of at least one new nuclear reactor every three to six months between 2012 and 2020. This is simply impossible.
