Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-01-23-Speech-3-008"
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"en.20080123.6.3-008"2
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"Madam President, first of all I apologise for the slight delay. As you know, we have just concluded our Commission meeting, and the first thing we did immediately after it was to come here to present what we believe is an historic package for the European Union. That is the reason why I, together with the Commissioner for the Environment, Mr Dimas, and the Commissioner for Energy, Mr Piebalgs, have only just arrived. The final drafting of the document is being completed. We will have it immediately, but this is a very important occasion to present to you first-hand the conclusions of our meeting today.
I want to be clear that, in putting forward proposals on biofuels, we have also fully respected the other side of the mandate: the need for environmental sustainability. The proposal creates the most comprehensive and sustainable system anywhere in the world for the certification of biofuels and for domestic and imported biofuels alike. We will also continue to promote the rapid development of second-generation biofuels.
It is important to understand that what we are promoting is sustainable biofuels and we are making a contribution to a global regime, because what we have today is a situation where, in many cases, biofuels are not sustainable and do not respond to our criteria – criteria we want to be implemented not only in Europe but throughout the world.
The package of measures proposed today contains the most far-reaching legislative proposals to be made by the European Commission for many years. How did we set about shaping this complex package? We spent a lot of time exploring options in great detail, but we always held firm to five key principles.
First, respecting the targets. Without this, we will not look serious to investors, to our negotiating partners and, most importantly, to our own citizens.
Second, fairness: recognising Member States’ different capacities to invest and their different starting points.
Third, competitiveness: designing a system able to minimise the costs to the European economy and, in some areas, improving the competitive possibilities of Europe by giving European industry and the European economy a first-mover advantage.
Fourth, the proposals had to be designed to promote a comprehensive international agreement to cut greenhouse emissions, including stepping up our own effort to 30% emission cuts should other developed countries do the same.
Last but not least, we must also start work now to halve global emissions by 2050. This means working today to bring tomorrow’s technology rapidly on stream.
This package should also be seen in articulation with some of our earlier proposals, namely the internal market for energy and the Energy Technology Plan. This is part of a very comprehensive set of proposals that is creating, for the first time, a real European energy policy, but we want this energy to be secure and also sustainable. Of course, there will be those who say that change comes at too high a cost and that we have no choice but to bury our heads in the sand and hope for the best. I think they have got this wrong. There is a cost, but the cost is manageable.
We have worked very hard on coming up with the right design to meet Europe’s ambitions in the right way. So the additional effort needed to realise the proposals would be less than 0.5% of GDP by 2020. This amounts, on average, to about EUR 3 a week for each European citizen. This is much less than the up to EUR 60 per week that is the cost of inaction.
I should like to start by saying that we are very happy with the result. The result was obtained by consensus in the College, with strong backing from all the Members of the Commission for a very ambitious proposal, because we have agreed what is now the most comprehensive package in terms of climate action and renewable energy that exists in any part of the world. We believe we have reason to be proud of it. This package on climate action and renewable energy meets the challenges of the future. We believe it is good for our planet; it is good for the European economy; it is good for our citizens.
Going on even the most optimistic assumptions of the Stern Report, the cost of inaction is more than 10 times what we are now proposing. It is true there are some costs, but we have to compare the cost of this package with the cost of inaction and, since the cost of inaction is much higher, we can say that there is a relative gain in having this package. In fact, every day the price of oil and gas goes up, the real cost of the package falls. Instead of costs, we really should be talking about gains for the European Union.
The package is hard-wired to reach our goals in an efficient way, using the market to drive change where it is most cost-effective and ensuring a level playing field while leaving as much as possible to Member States
We have paid particular attention to fairness. We have, therefore, designed the proposals to ensure that the demands on the poorer Member States are realistic: all will contribute, but in line with their capacity to invest.
At the level of business, we all know that there are sectors where the cost of cutting emissions could have a real impact on competitiveness with companies in countries that do nothing – or do very little – in the fight against climate change. There is no point in Europe being tough if it just means production shifting to countries allowing a free-for-all on emissions.
An international agreement is the best way to tackle this, but we also need to give legal certainty to companies that we will take the action needed. Energy-intensive industries will have ETS allowances free of charge if there is no global or sectoral agreement. If our expectations for an international agreement are not met, we will look at other options, such as requiring importers to obtain allowances alongside European competitors, as long as such a system is compatible with WTO requirements.
I am making this point specifically, because it is very important that this package and the measures that the European Union will adopt are not in favour of the environment and against the economy. No, they are not only for the environment and our planet but also for our economy and for the competitiveness of the European economy. We want industry to remain in Europe. We do not want to export our jobs to other parts of the world.
Fairness is also important at the level of the citizen. We are encouraging Member States to act in a sensitive way, such as using a share of the billions of euros to be gained in auctioning revenues to help the less well off to invest in energy-efficient homes.
But we must not forget the huge economic opportunity represented by Europe’s transition to a low-emissions economy. Europe’s leadership also means showing that the technology is there, that we will need an effective and competitive industrial sector up to the challenge. There are real opportunities there. The renewables sector alone will bring one million jobs by 2020 at least, according to our estimates. I am sure that, once again, European industry will show its ability to innovate and adapt. Europe can be the first economy for the low-carbon age. We must seize this chance.
The work of the European Union is sometimes seen as rather technical: interesting to specialists, but not relevant to people’s daily lives. The action we are discussing today proves this theory wrong: the struggle against climate change and the quest for secure, sustainable and competitive energy touches every European every day. We are all affected by this, and this is one of the most – if not the most – important challenge of the 21st century.
This package represents an opportunity for Europe to show itself at its best: tackling an issue of fundamental long-term importance; using the European Union’s continental scale to best effect; turning political consensus into practical action.
If some people in Europe have doubts about the need for a European Union, then these are exactly the kinds of policy that show why we need a strong European Union more than ever.
This is precisely where we can demonstrate to the most sceptical that, alone, our Member States – even the biggest Member States – do not have the scale or the leverage to push the agenda forward. But Europe, if it is determined to lead, can do it. So, apart from the environmental aspects, apart from the economic aspects and apart from the very important geopolitical and security aspects – because let us not forget that we are speaking about security of supply, and we do not want to be dependent on regimes that are not our friends – it is also a great argument for European unity. It is also a great argument to show not only that we need a strong European Union, but also that the world needs a strong European Union to lead the global efforts to face the global challenges of the 21st century.
Europeans ask for a vision and a plan of action. That is what we are doing now. This vision was set out last year with leadership from the European political community. It was agreed in the European Council, following a Commission proposal, to bring about the ‘20/20/20 by 2020’ goals: a 20% reduction in greenhouse gases, or 30% if other developed economies agree, 20% of energy use through renewables and a 20% increase in energy efficiency by 2020.
This was agreed by the European Council. We can be proud that Europe is leading that effort. We then brought it to the Heiligendamm Summit, to the High-Level Event at the United Nations in New York and finally to the Bali Conference. Without strong European leadership, we could not have achieved the promising results of the Bali Conference, setting a road map for the global agreement we are seeking and that we expect to reach in Copenhagen in 2009.
The clear commitment of this Parliament to this cause has been essential, and I want to thank you, once again, for all your support. Your work over the past year has been critical in building the political momentum in favour of action. I believe that today’s proposals match the goals that you have set out, as well as meeting the mandate given by the European Council last March.
Today’s package adds up to a detailed road map to bring about the political vision agreed last year. We have agreed on the vision and now we have to deliver on the concrete plans, the concrete instruments to achieve that vision. We believe that the main priority is to bring about a 20% cut in our greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 and be ready, if necessary, to step up to 30% with an international agreement. Let us never forget that. This is about global warming; it is about global climate change and not just about climate change in Europe. We have to put our proposals in such a way that we bring others along with us. It is also important to lead by example and that is why, for instance, we are now proposing how to achieve the 20% of energy use through renewables by 2020.
The package we have just approved in the Commission includes the following: an updated Emissions Trading System (ETS) to create a borderless ETS to drive cuts in greenhouse gas emissions from big industrial emitters; specific, binding national targets, so that Member States know exactly what they have to do outside the ETS, in sectors like transport, buildings, agriculture and waste; a new approach to actively promote renewable targets, again including binding national targets; new rules to stimulate carbon capture and storage, tomorrow’s technology to cut emissions; and new state aid rules that take into consideration the specificity of the action needed in this environmental field.
Part of our mandate was the 10% target for biofuels so that transport plays a part in emissions cuts. As you know, this 10% target was unanimously agreed by the European Council."@en1
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