Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-05-21-Speech-3-012"
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for the opportunity you have given us today to discuss the interim report by the Temporary Committee on Climate Change, presented by Mr Florenz. I congratulate him on his excellent work.
The recent visit by Commission representatives to China confirmed that our Chinese counterparts are fully aware of their pressing obligation to take internal measures. They have already begun to take them and intend to continue their efforts. We must support them bilaterally and multilaterally. We shall have many opportunities during the coming months and next year to put across our message. For instance, there will be the G8 Conference and G8+5, for which the Japanese presidency is concentrating on climate change. Further opportunities will come with the initiative under the auspices of the UN for the world’s leading economies and the EU’s various bilateral cooperation programmes on climate change. We shall make use of all these opportunities. We shall persuade our partners that urgent measures must be taken and that sound, viable policies must be mapped out on energy and climate change. In our endeavour we must systematically highlight the scientific findings underpinning our actions; we must keep referring back to the consequences of inaction or inadequate measures.
As we know, the shared vision is to be the subject of negotiations in the context of the Bali roadmap. It is very important that the vision should be negotiated on the basis of the authoritative scientific opinions that we have at our disposal. We must insist that the negotiations should be conducted in the light of scientific findings. I am confident that together you have just as important a role to play as the Commission in putting this crucial message across to our partners, to our citizens and to their parliamentary representatives.
The report confirms the European Parliament’s support for an ambitious Community policy on combating climate change. Let me take this opportunity, Mr President, to thank all the Members of the European Parliament for their continuing support and vital contribution towards promoting our climate policy, raising public awareness and informing MPs from other countries. Mr President, I should also like to point out the important part you have played in promoting the EU’s policy on climate change. I am sure that you and Members of the European Parliament will continue with the same commitment, so that in the two brief years we have ahead of us we can achieve an agreement by the end of 2009 in Copenhagen. We shall thus be able to deal effectively with this great threat to the planet. Both in the EU, where discussions on the climate and energy package of measures are intensifying, and in international negotiations, we must muster all our resources and cooperate as best we can. We must make use of the EU’s head start, bearing in mind the Copenhagen Conference in December 2009.
Two factors have helped us reach the important decisions taken in Bali: Europe’s position as world leader in combating climate change, and the scientific findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Thanks to these findings, many world leaders have accepted that there is indeed an urgent need to take measures. This series of scientific reports has now allowed citizens and political leaders, including Members in various countries, to better understand the scale of the challenge and the serious dangers we face if we do not intervene to stop climate change. I think we nearly all agree that it has indeed been scientifically proven that urgent, bold measures to combat climate change are needed. These measures are summarised in the interim report we have before us. This report puts across more clearly than ever before the scientific message given by the IPCC and other sources in 2007.
The scientific debate on whether climate change is caused by human activity has lasted for decades because of scepticism, which has prevented decisive measures from being taken. Now the debate is over. This does not mean that all the questions have been answered or that we have understood every detail; but we now know enough to conclude that the rapid adoption of ambitious measures is in our interests, in terms of energy security and in economic, environmental and social terms. Not only do we not have the luxury of waiting but, worse still, the time we have is very limited. If we are to restrict global warming to 2°C, the threshold above which we lose the ability to limit or reverse its environmental impact, greenhouse gas emissions should peak within the next 10 to 15 years at the most.
In the long term, to give us a good chance of not exceeding 2°C, global emissions in 2050 must be reduced to 50% of their 1990 levels. To achieve this, a radical change is needed in the way we produce and use energy. There must be a worldwide transition to a low-CO
economy, and small but important changes are needed in many aspects of our everyday lives. What we need is nothing short of a green revolution.
The IPCC reports have made it clear that even with ambitious measures to reduce emissions some serious effects of climate change are probably inevitable. The international community must therefore be ready to deal with them. For this reason, support will be necessary, especially to the most vulnerable among the developing countries, which will face the gravest problems.
I now turn to the UN negotiations. We know we have little time at our disposal, since our overriding priority is to achieve an agreement in Copenhagen in 2009. Signing a substantial, comprehensive agreement that meets the ambitious targets set by scientific findings is a considerable challenge. Persuading our international partners to sign the ambitious agreement is our objective and will require a titanic effort. The EU must therefore remain faithful to its hitherto successful strategy. This means that we must achieve positive results at home and show our international partners abroad that adopting ambitious measures is neither contrary to their interests, nor does it hinder their economic development.
One of our challenges here will be to secure the participation of developed countries in an effort to reduce emissions to levels corresponding to the 2°C target. This means a 25-40% reduction in their emissions by 2020 from the 1990 level. Let me not beat about the bush. We call on the United States to rise to the challenge; instead of hindering progress, it must encourage it. As you will have realised during your recent visit to the United States, discussions in progress there have begun to move in the right direction, but obviously we still expect much more from them.
As well as working with developed countries, we must also work to achieve ambitious commitments on emission reduction from developing countries, especially the more advanced ones. There are many possibilities for reducing emissions; they entail significant additional benefits for energy security, human health, and development in general. Measures in this direction must be provided for and supported in the forthcoming 2009 agreement. Here, too, I believe, things are moving in the right direction. There is increased awareness of the need to take steps to combat climate change. At the same time, additional benefits are also becoming apparent, whether in relation to safeguarding energy, or human health, or economic development, which will not only be safeguarded, but will probably benefit."@en1
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