Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-09-28-Speech-3-380-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20110928.23.3-380-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, thank you for the opportunity to share some views also from the side of global climate policy and how to position the European Union best in the run-up to the Rio Conference on Sustainable Development.
Internalisation of the external effects means factoring in the consequences, thereby making them a part of the decision-making process. This means introducing market-based instruments such as taxes, charges and emission trading, in order to give economic incentives to limit external effects.
I think this pricing issue should also be a very prominent issue for Rio+20. I think that with these things – access to sustainable energy and the pricing issue – among a lot of other recommendations in Rio, we could deliver something that would result in immediate action when we come back from Rio because, with many of the other things, we all know that it will take a very long time before we see them in the real world. Here are some tangible things that could lead to immediate action. I think it is very important also to focus on that.
Firstly, let me share a few points from the work of the Global Sustainability Panel, established by Ban Ki-Moon with the very clear view that we should give some recommendations for the Rio+20 Conference. The Panel will have its last meeting in December and will publish its recommendations by the middle of January, in time hopefully to make an impact on the Rio+20 process.
Sustainable development as defined by the Brundtland Commission in 1987 and as agreed in Rio in 1992 was never truly realised. Patterns of growth and consumption are by and large the same as before. Unfortunately, emerging economies did not learn enough from the mistakes made by us, the developed countries – the principle of grow first and clean up later – but this cannot be a growth strategy for the 21st century.
Instead we need political leadership to set a new growth agenda: growth, yes – but the important question will be ‘what kind of growth?’ It must be a growth that includes environmental and social concerns at the same level as economic ones. New indicators of growth, way beyond GDP, are necessary. We need to measure well-being of people and preservation of nature, and of course this agenda must appeal equally to developed and developing countries.
The world must also move away from the old north-south paradigm. We must move towards a paradigm of mutual interdependence. Interdependence in a globalised world is a strong driver for change. It is linked to population growth and growing resource scarcity. Business as usual will take this planet beyond its natural boundaries with catastrophic effects. We need science to guide political decisions on all environmental boundaries. A call for urgency must come out of Rio.
The focus of the Panel’s work has been the interlinked nexus of energy, food and water, with climate change as an overarching theme. The world community has already been mobilised on climate change. Climate change is still there and is also there in the minds of the people. It is important that we do not change from one topic to another. It is still the overarching theme and how we address it – and that we address it globally – is still decisive for what kind of world we will have in this 21st century. So climate change must still be an overarching theme.
To the very relevant points made by Mr Potočnik I would just add two other points for emphasis, first on energy. Eliminating energy poverty is a precondition to eradicating poverty. In the panel we therefore consider targets for access to energy, for sustainable energy and for renewable energy sources. At the same time, the global energy system – supply, transformation, delivery and use – is the dominant contributor to climate change, representing around 60% of total current greenhouse gas emissions.
I am glad to see highlighted in Parliament’s resolution that the transition towards a green economy requires a radical transformation of the energy sector. I think this is absolutely crucial and I actually believe this is one of the areas where hopefully Rio+20 can deliver a very specific recommendation that can lead to immediate action. This of course requires concerted and coordinated effort, but I think it is very important that we in Europe push in this direction.
Let me just mention a second point. Part of the reason for the inadequate progress on sustainability is evident: there is a significant market failure that we must correct, namely inadequate pricing. The negative consequences of the way we exploit nature and the environment are not usually visible or immediate. This must be corrected. Their externality and invisibility allows the end user often to remain ignorant of this kind of cost related to our growth, so the price signals to the markets and consumers today are flawed. To change this, people, corporations and governments must be made aware of the full effects of their choices. In other words, we need to price things in a way that reflects the true costs."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples