|
European Commission's Communication on International Climate Policy |
|
The
outcomes of the Copenhagen conference fell drastically short of what is
needed to address climate change. The EU, in particular, failed to show
unified and ambitious diplomatic leadership at COP15.
CAN
Europe therefore, welcomes the internal re-evaluation of the European
Union’s negotiation strategy for international climate negotiations as
presented in the communication published today, March 9th, by the European
Commission (EC) ’s new Directorate General (DG) for Climate Action.
We
support the EC’s commitment to analysing the policies required for
upgrading Europe’s emissions reduction target to make it consistent
with what is needed to avoid dangerous climate change.
We
would also like to congratulate the EC for very clearly pointing out
the loopholes in current target pledges put forward by industrialised
countries and acknowledging the huge gap between the goal of keeping
global average temperature rise below 2 degrees and current policies in
the EU and internationally. The next steps for the EU would be to first
clean up these loopholes internally and then push for an
environmentally sound position in international talks.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
EU 2020 Strategy falls short |
|
The EU 2020 Strategy will replace the Lisbon Agenda for Growth and Jobs, which expires this year. However, the EU 2020 appears to cite a green agenda only within the context of “the future competitiveness of our industry and our economies,” which leads some to believe that profits and growth are still Barroso’s main priorities. During the public consultation on the EU 2020 strategy, which closed on January 15th, many NGOs submitted comments that the document did not address key environmental issues enough. The formal proposal for the strategy, which was presented by Commissioner Barroso on 3rd March, has again come under criticism from green groups for failing to address their concerns. Tony Long, Director of WWF European Policy Office, commented, "The EU 2020 strategy is a collection of policy aspirations that are in themselves pretty unobjectionable, but do not add up to a whole. It gives us signposts in reducing Europe’s environmental burden on itself but none on its impact on the rest of the world." The European Environmental Bureau (EEB), commenting on the proposed 20% increased energy efficiency in the next decade, said this means we will in 2020 use exactly as much energy as today, if the economy grows with 20% in the same period. "The Commission clearly lacks the courage to increase the ambitions, needed to prevent disastrous global warming, and to re-establish EU as a world leader,” said John Hontelez, Secretary General of EEB. |
|
Read more...
|
|
A new year, a new Commission |
|
January 2010 started with a bang as the European Parliament grilled the newly designated candidates for the European Commission to ensure they are up to the tasks they will be taking on for the next five years. |
|
Read more...
|
|
Press Release: Melting Leadership - Too little, too late from the EU |
|
[December 21, 2009 - Copenhagen] - This weekend the climate summit in Copenhagen ended in failure, closing without adopting the fair, ambitious and binding agreement that is required to avoid dangerous climate change. The EU failed to move to a higher emissions reduction target at a critical moment when doing so could have unlocked the talks. |
|
Read more...
|
|
Climate Action Network Europe (CAN-E) is recognised as Europe's leading network working on climate and energy issues. With over 100 members in 25 european countries, CAN-E unites to work to prevent dangerous climate change and promote sustainable energy and environment policy in Europe. The Climate Action Network (CAN) is a worldwide network of over 365 Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) working to promote government, private sector and individual action to limit human-induced climate change to ecologically sustainable levels. CAN is based on trust, openness and democracy.
The vision of CAN is a world striving actively towards and achieving the protection of the global climate in a manner that promotes equity and social justice between peoples, sustainable development of all communities, and protection of the global environment. CAN unites to work towards this vision.
CAN's mission is to support and empower civil society organisations to influence the design and development of an effective global strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ensure its implementation at international, national and local levels in the promotion of equity and sustainable development.
|
|
|
