Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-09-24-Speech-1-086"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20070924.16.1-086"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, the future is already upon us. The time for renewable energy sources has come, and only a boom in renewable energy, together with much greater energy efficiency, can help us cope with the climate change crisis and the energy supply crisis. I am grateful for this excellent report. We can map out a medium- and long-term road for promoting renewable energy and motivating the reticent, of whom, I see, there are still a considerable number.
The report emphatically demands that the Commission produce framework legislation for the promotion of heating and air conditioning by means of renewable energy. It calls for a level playing field for renewable resources on the energy market and a reinforced emission trading scheme, with internalisation of the costs of polluting energy sources and removal of the massive, perverse subsidies for fossil fuels. It seeks to promote offshore wind energy, takes a firm stand on high-temperature solar energy, and calls for more funding for research into the storage of renewables and the adaptation of national grids. Finally, it asks the Commission to draw up an action plan in favour of bio-construction, given that 40% of all EU energy is used in buildings.
And now we come to a point of conflict. The debate on biofuels raises a moral issue and a question of principle: to eat or to drive? If we approve a binding target of 10% for biofuels in this report, we must be aware that we are fuelling a conflict between 800 million car drivers, on the one hand, and 2 000 million of the poorest people on earth, who are competing for the same grain.
The euphoria engendered by biofuels risks endangering the food supply of Europe and the world. And we do not even know whether the energy balance is positive. Given rising oil prices, it is becoming cheaper by the day to burn cereals rather than make bread or feed dairy cows. We must therefore proceed with great caution and not adopt binding targets, which have, moreover, already been called into question by major international institutions and many scientists. We cannot allow the remedy to be worse than the disease. On this crucial issue we must trust to good sense and apply the precautionary principle."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples