by
N. Peter Kramer
Backed by the European Parliament the Commission was on track of saving planet Earth! But the EU discovered that hardly any other country in the world was willing to engage; real big polluters, China and the US, ignored the European appeals. The global Copenhagen Climate Change Summit 2011 was dominated by the American and the Chinese President; the EU had to stay in the wings. And let’s not forget that inside the EU, Poland and the UK, two of the biggest European economies, never full hearted followed the efforts demanded by the EP and the Commission.
Last week the Commission has taken a step back from the ambitious environmental agenda with a new set of energy targets for the year 2030 that emphasise the need for economic growth and industrial competitiveness. A victory for industry groups is, that the 2030 targets do not include any more mandatory goals for the memberstates to increase the amount of energy generate from renewable sources such as wind and solar energy. Instead it substituted an overall EU goal, much harder to enforce. Remarkable is also that the Commission decided not to propose laws on environmental damage during the extraction of shale gas. It is up to the memberstates to decide. At the moment the UK is pushing it through but France doesn’t want it; what means there will be no European policy on shale gas winning…
‘The previously farsighted and ambitious European Commission is a shadow of its former self’, said Thomas Becker, chief executive of the European Wind Energy Association. Markus Beyrer, director-general of Business Europe called in the Financial Times the pack of measures published by the European Commission ‘positive’.
The debate in the European Parliament looks to become very interesting. But one way or the other, it is clear our environment will be the loser!
By: N. Peter Kramer
