Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-09-28-Speech-3-425-000"
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"en.20110928.23.3-425-000"2
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"Madam President, Ms Hedegaard, honourable Members, what do we know 20 years after Rio? We know a great deal more. There have been many advances in science, and thanks to the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, for example, we have a much better understanding of the effects of human activity on the environment. This should be a lesson for us, and it should make us realise that we do not have time – we do not have much time left. Research is ongoing, and it is not unlikely that we will find we have reached the point known as ‘peak oil’. What will happen now if China, India or other countries which are on the fast track to development repeat the logic of Japan’s or Korea’s development, for example? This problem – which by the way involves a degree of fear that the planet will not be able to provide our grandchildren with what they need to live – this, honourable Members, is not our grandchildren’s problem, it is our problem. Therefore it is extremely important to escape the logic of exponential development, which expects that with each successive year development will be faster than the last one, and that next year it will be faster still. At the moment that is the way things are, and at the moment that is how people think.
There is a great role here for the European Union. The European Union has often shown that it has a role as a leader, and we are currently also making enormous efforts, and Ms Hedegaard and I in my capacity as a representative of the Polish Presidency are both well aware of the difficulties we encounter when we talk to the greatest emitters and try to persuade them to adjust their pace to that of the European Union. We must not stop at this. Rio must be the next step, our latest response to threats which are becoming a reality. It is important that we treat the green economy seriously. The green economy is not something which can be allowed to cause poverty to increase – quite the opposite. The green economy should be managed to allow the creation of new jobs and to ensure our prosperity – to fulfil our aspirations and also to give us work. So it is a certain kind of game, a fairly sophisticated kind of game, and one which we have to learn to play.
I would like to say a word about technology. We still do not know everything about the technology. Not all the technology is available to us to allow us to say with full certainty that we will only use renewable sources of energy, for example, and nothing else. However, if technologies for storing energy develop – if I can at least mention this now – perhaps that beautiful, ideal world we would like to have will be possible in a few decades – 20, 30 or 40 years.
Once again, I would like to emphasise how pleased I am, as a representative of the Polish Presidency, to be able to be a part, too, of what we call the European Union’s leadership. Having listened to Mr Florenz, and having listened to Mr Leinen, I feel sure that the European Parliament, together with the Council and together with the European Commission, will provide that leadership, and that we will be able to say that the matters of sustainable development dealt with at this important conference in Rio represent real progress. Thank you very much."@en1
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