MEP sets out vision for EU climate policy

  2616, 17/09/08

European commission proposals for new EU climate and energy policies are a good first step, but the bloc can do more to tackle climate change, according to the MEP drafting a European parliament resolution on the issue.

Veteran German centre-right member Karl-Heinz Florenz, a former chairman of the assembly's environment committee, presented his draft resolution to its temporary committee on climate change no Monday. Later it will be debated and adopted by the plenary body, but will not have legislative effect.

In an ambitious report Mr Florenz urges the commission to consider making legally binding an EU goal to improve energy efficiency by 20 per cent by 2020.  The commission should also consider a ban on stand-by in all new electronic appliances, he says.  Automatic switch-off and energy-saving modes should be mandatory even for industrial equipment, he says.

The rapporteur suggests that the aircraft industry, airlines and airport operators together set an emission reduction goal for 2020. This is not intended to call into question the benefits of emission trading, he adds. Mr Florenz calls on the International maritime organisation to set an emission reduction goal for shipping.

Elements of Mr Florenz's report are likely to raise hackles among MEPs, especially his call for a "rejection of the fundamental principle of 100 per cent auctioning" of EU industrial carbon allowances. Instead he prefers a proposal advocated by energy-intensive industries: free allowances allocation up to a state-of-the-art technology-based benchmark (EED 17/04/08 http://www.endseuropedaily.com/25251).

Mr Florenz, a farmer by trade, urges the commission to consider explicitly including agriculture in future climate policy, including binding emission targets for the sector. The commission should also carry out a study on including the waste industry in emission trading, he says. The EU budget needs to be examined for "compatibility with EU climate policy".

The climate change committee will continue its debate on the resolution on Thursday. A plenary vote is due next February, after which the committee will be dissolved. Earlier this year, the parliament adopted an interim report from the committee on the science of climate change (EED 23/05/08 http://www.endseuropedaily.com/25487).

Follow-up: See temporary committee on climate change http://www.europarl.europa.eu/comparl/tempcom/clim/default_en.htm and report http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2004_2009/documents/pr/728/728472/728472en.pdf.

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