Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-03-11-Speech-2-338"
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"en.20080311.33.2-338"2
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"Madam President, it is a top priority for the Commission to conclude a far-reaching international agreement on climate change, covering the period after 2012. The Bali Conference was a significant step in the effort to confront climate change at world level. All the parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, including the United States, China and India, agreed to begin formal negotiations.
What we need now – as it is a key priority for the EU and the Commission – is an agreement by the end of 2009 on a future international legal framework on climate. This framework must be generally applicable; it must ensure that all parties are committed participants, and it must be effective. To achieve the desired result, which is, as we have said, an international agreement, the EU really must continue to play a leading role, as it certainly did up to and of course during the Bali Conference.
This is precisely the significance of the package of proposals on climate and renewable sources of energy, which the Commission submitted on 23 January. The EU must retain its leading role and clearly show determination to proceed.
The EU emission allowance trading system is our basic means of channelling investments towards cleaner technologies. This system ensures that the greenhouse gas targets set by the EU can be achieved at the lowest possible cost.
The EU proposal for a revised directive on the trading system envisages auctioning as the main method of distributing allowances. Auctioning not only provides incentives for investments in low carbon emission technologies; it also prevents the undesirable consequences of unfair allocation and unjustifiable profits. For this reason, the Commission proposes that, from the start of the third trading period, allowances should no longer be allocated free of charge to power-generating companies, and in the industrial sector, free allocation will be progressively curtailed with a target of complete abolition in 2020.
Some energy-intensive sectors or industries operate in a fiercely competitive international market. As a result, they cannot pass on the cost to the consumer without the risk of losing a large part of the market. If there is no international agreement, they risk relocating outside Europe, with the result that worldwide greenhouse gas emissions (carbon leakage) will increase. The sectors where this risk of carbon leakage plays a part must be specified objectively. The Commission therefore proposes that this question should be examined thoroughly and that a list of vulnerable sectors or industries be drawn up by 2010.
By June 2011 the Commission will assess the situation in these energy-intensive industries. It will base its assessment on the outcome of negotiations for the international agreement on climate change or on any individual sector agreements that may have been concluded. On the basis of this assessment, the Commission will submit a report to the European Parliament and the Council in 2011 and, if deemed necessary, will propose additional measures. These measures will include free allocation of greenhouse gas emission allowances to energy-intensive sectors, up to 100%. The Commission’s proposal includes, as a further measure, the establishment of an effective carbon equalising or offsetting mechanism. The aim is that the Community industrial installations that run a significant risk of carbon leakage should be placed on a comparable, equal footing with those in third countries. Under such an equalising system, provision could also be made for imposing terms on importers, comparable with the terms applying to installations within the EU, for example, the obligation to return CO
emission allowances.
Whatever method is agreed and whatever action is undertaken, it must be in full conformity with the principles of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. This is especially true of the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and capabilities in the special case of less developed countries. It must also be in conformity with the Community’s international obligations, including Word Trade Organisation rules.
To conclude, the proposal on climate and energy has been collectively approved by the European Commission as a whole, and is therefore supported by all its members."@en1
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