Commission Proposal out of Fuel - EEB

The European Environmental Bureau (EEB), the largest federation of environmental citizens organisations in Europe, welcomes the publication of the Energy/Climate Package by the European Commission today as the first step towards a more sustainable demand and use of energy, but asserts the proposal is far from the mark set at the UN Climate meeting in Bali just last month. EEB therefore calls upon the EU governments and the European Parliament to close the loopholes in the proposal, insisting on some essential improvements.

John Hontelez, Secretary-General of the EEB said: "The Commission has been under massive pressure from industry coalitions and several Member States to present watered-down proposals and it has, to a certain extent, given in to that pressure. If this proposal goes through, the EU risks losing its global leadership position on climate change and missing an opportunity to shift to the low carbon economy that both industry and governments talk about. The Council of Ministers and the European Parliament should bring these proposals up to the required level of ambition necessary to make such an economy a reality."

First, the EEB insists that the EU stick to its agreed objective of keeping global warming below 2ºC, which would require the EU to go for a 30% reduction target, rather than the 20% proposed today. This would be in line with the Bali conclusion that industrialised countries have cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 25-40% by 2020.

Secondly, while supporting the Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) being managed centrally by the Commission from 2013, EEB deplores the proposed delays in moving from free emission credits to a system that requires only certain industry sectors to 'pay' for their emissions. EEB also rejects offering industry extra emission rights through investment in questionable energy projects outside the EU. EEB is calling for a robust penalty system for exceeding emissions limits to create a level playing field for those businesses that choose to invest in eco-innovation.

Thirdly, while supporting the Commission's overall efforts to boost renewables, EEB does not approve of their continued support of a disputable biofuels policy, despite ever louder warning signals from many sides.

John Hontelez said, "The biofuels policy is emerging as a tool to reduce the pressure on policymakers, the auto and freight industries and car users to do something real about the significant and growing, contribution of the transport sector to climate change. Because of the variation in quality of different biofuels, in addition to the potential knock-on ecological impacts from biodiversity loss, soil degradation and water stress, the arbitrary 10% biofuels target the Commission stubbornly supports is unlikely to provide positive results for the environment."

Although the EEB acknowledges a number of important last-minute improvements to sustainability criteria for such biofuels, it deplores the fact that despite increased warnings from authoritative sources, including the Commission's own in-house scientists at the Joint Research Centre, the Commission has been unwilling to drop the specific biofuels target altogether.

The EEB welcomes the Commission setting rules for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) but recognises that despite its potential for helping reduce GHG emissions, CCS comes with an environmental cost as the same quantity of electricity produced would require 25% more coal. Furthermore, carbon storage comes with serious safety and environmental risks. Therefore, rigid terms and conditions, as well as support for research, are necessary to set the right rules for this sector.

Finally, the EEB rejects the demand from the Commission that individual EU Member States not go beyond its proposals for GHG reduction by setting maximum reduction levels for individual countries and maximum sustainability criteria for biofuels. Any country that wants to do more for the environment than the Commission asks should be applauded rather than thwarted.

The EEB is a federation of more than 140 environmental citizens’ organisations based in all EU Member States and most Accession Countries, as well as in a few neighbouring countries. These organisations range from local and national, to European and international. The aim of the EEB is to protect and improve the environment of Europe and to enable the citizens of Europe to play their part in achieving that goal.