EU Leaders Called Out For Lackluster Climate Change Package

European leaders agreed to reduce greenhouse gases by 40 percent by 2030. Two targets of 27 percent were also agreed on: one for the market share of renewable energy and another for energy efficiency improvement. The renewable energy target is binding on all EU member countries, but the energy efficiency target is optional.

“This 2030 package is very good news for our fight against climate change,” said President of the European Commission Jose Barroso in a statement. “No player in the world is as ambitious as the EU.”

Environmentalists are not very happy with the EU’s targets. “It is clear that all of the targets could have been – and should have been – more ambitious,” said Jennifer Morgan, director of climate and energy programs at the World Resources Institute. Morgan cites recent analysis that shows the EU can reduce carbon emissions by 49 percent by cutting natural gas imports in half and investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Greenpeace EU Managing Director Mahi Sideridou said that what the “EU is offering is, at best, a whiff of smelling salts.” She said that Europeans “want cleaner energy.” A poll by Eurobarometer, published in March, found that 92 percent of Europeans think it’s important for their government to provide support for improving energy efficiency, and 90 percent think it is important for the government to set renewable energy targets.

Natalia Alonso, Oxfam’s deputy director of advocacy and campaigns, calls the 40 percent emissions reduction target a “only a first step.” Alonso points out that “business leaders called for higher -- and binding -- targets than those agreed by EU leaders.” Alonso is right that business leaders across Europe have called for tougher targets than EU leaders. A letter by 11 big European companies called on EU leaders to agree on a climate and energy package that goes “well beyond the proposed 40 percent reduction.” They also called on leaders to agree on a renewable energy target of at least 40 percent and a binding energy target of at least 40 percent.

Meanwhile, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) called for a 30 percent renewable energy target and a binding energy efficiency target of 20 percent. A letter by 49 companies through the European Alliance to Save Energy called on EU leaders to adopt a binding energy efficiency target of at least 40 percent. Still another letter, this one by members of the Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group, urged EU leaders to adopt a renewable energy target of 30 percent and a binding energy efficiency target of 30 percent. They also called on EU leaders to adopt an 80 to 95 GHG emissions reduction by 2050 target.

Why did EU leaders disregard the advice of business leaders across Europe? Perhaps it was pressure from fossil fuel companies. An Oxfam report found that fossil fuel companies spent over €44 million last year lobbying the EU to stop action on climate change.

Image credit: Martin