12 Mar 2008
- Brussels, Belgium – If Europe wants to
maintain its leadership position on climate
change it needs to maintain strong emissions
reduction targets and commit to providing
the financial support to help emerging economies
leapfrog into a low carbon economy, WWF
said on the eve of a European Council meeting
which will consider the EU’s climate response.
“The European Council
meeting is crucial to provide European leadership
in combating climate change, but the proposed
target of 20 per cent emissions reduction
is not enough to address the climate crisis,
nor to match with the level of investments
needed to make Europe carbon-free by mid
century,” says Dr. Stephan Singer, Head
of the European Climate and Energy unit
at WWF.
“The Council should
provide the mandate to see the EU equipped
with laws to implement its original commitment
to reduce domestic greenhouse gas emissions
by 30 per cent below 11000 levels by 2020”.
According to the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 2007’s Peace
Nobel laureate, industrialised countries
need to reduce their emissions by up to
40 per cent by 2020 to keep global warming
to below 2 degrees compared to pre-industrial
levels – the threshold of unacceptable risks
of catastrophic climate change already endorsed
by European leaders.
“One year after promising
commitments, the European Union needs to
take bold steps and a new development path
to lead successful negotiations on a post-2012
global climate deal at the Copenhagen climate
summit in December 2009,” Dr Singer said.
WWF is also calling
on European leaders “to put some real substance
into the Bali Climate Summit commitments
to provide more assistance to climate change
initiatives in emerging and developing economies”.
“In the spirit of leadership,
commitment and solidarity with those who
suffer the most from climate change, Europe
must be prepared to act and invest now to
decouple economic growth from CO2 emissions,”
he added.
Dr. Stephan Singer, Head of European Climate
and Energy Unit at WWF
Claudia Delpero, Communications Manager
at WWF European Policy Office
