The 27 leaders of the EU member states showed, during their Spring Summit of 9 March, their ambitions in the fight against global warming.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the EU is now a model for the rest of the world. She challenged the United States, China and India (the world’s biggest polluters) to follow the European Union in cutting greenhouse gas emissions significantly by the year 2020. Ms. Merkel, EU President during the first half year of 2007, is planning to press the issue of global warming at the June meeting of the G8, the group of the world’s leading industrial nations.
The agreement will require the EU to derive a fifth of is energy from renewable sources like wind and solar power by 2020. The EU will also be required to fuel 10 percent of its cars and trucks on biofuels made from plants. Angela Merkel acknowledged after the Summit, that it was too early to determine the costs of the agreement. ‘But we have also to consider the costs of doing nothing’, added Jose Barroso, President of the European Commission.
However some European business leaders still fear that the ambitious environmental goals could harm industry. These arguments have featured in the US, where President Bush has refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. British Prime Minister Tony Blair called the EU agreement ‘groundbreaking’. ‘It gives Europe a leadership position on this crucial issue’, a bitter statement after he failed to convince President Bush to join Europe in working on climate change.
Some environmental organisations called the agreement window-dressing and showed strong non-belief. ‘Some EU countries including Spain, Belgium, Ireland, Italy and Portugal are to set to miss their national Kyoto targets. What can you expect?’, said a spokesperson of Friends of the Earth, a Brussels-based green lobbygroup.
