30 November 2011
At the United Nations’ climate change conference in Durban, South Africa, EU representatives called for an ambitious, comprehensive and legally binding global framework for climate action by all major economies, but were met with opposition from China who described the EU's demands as ‘too strict’.
At the United Nations’ climate change conference in Durban, South Africa, EU representatives called for an ambitious, comprehensive and legally binding global framework for climate action by all major economies, but were met with opposition from China who described the EU's demands as ‘too strict’.
In an exclusive interview with DeHavilland EU, Chris Davies MEP, the European Parliament's rapporteur on the Commission's Energy Roadmap 2050, told Helene Champagne, Director that as a result of this, “No binding international agreements will be reached in Durban.”
He went onto explain, “The Chinese regime doesn’t want to do anything that will curb the country’s economic growth but they know that climate change is as big a problem for them as it is for everyone else. China invests half its GDP in low carbon technologies and developments. In response, we should raise our ambitions and make firm commitments to improve energy efficiency. If we don't improve our 2020 target from a 20% cut in greenhouse gas emissions to 30%, the Commission is condemning the EU to failure and allowing Asian countries to steal a march on us.”
A number of initiatives designed by the EU to reduce its own emissions have drawn criticism of late with fears that the Emissions Trading System (ETS) and carbon capture and storage (CCS) are failing.
Davies MEP called for the EU Parliament to vote for the withdrawing of the CO2 permit supply within ETS in an attempt to prop up carbon prices which have plummeted in recent years. The Parliament will hold a number of ballots over the next five months. The votes could determine the future of ETS.
“Too many European Union Allowances (EUAs) permits have been handed out so the ‘cap’ has not capped anything and the price has collapsed,” he said. “The huge surplus of allowances now held by companies, together with anticipated further improvements in energy efficiency, means that there will be no significant recovery in carbon prices unless reforms are made.”
The full version of this interview with Chris Davies, MEP can be downloaded from: http://www1.dehavillandeurope.eu/exclusive-interviews
DeHavilland EU is a specialist provider of political intelligence and parliamentary monitoring services. For all press enquiries please contact Helene Champagne, Director, DeHavilland EU, tel: +32 (0) 2791 7615 or email: helene.champagne@dehavillandeurope.eu
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