EU leaders agree to watered-down climate package
Special Section: Energy and Climate Change Package
Tuesday, 16 December 2008 15:42
The EU Summit which took place on 11-12 December between national leaders, concluded with an agreement that is less stringent than the original Commission and Parliament proposals, but which aims to reach the overall target of a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. EU leaders hailed the agreement as a further indication of Europe’s commitment to play a central role in the fight against climate change, with French President Nicolas Sarkozy calling the accord an ‘historic’ moment. Environmental groups meanwhile, were far more critical of the deal raising fears that the agreed package would not be sufficient to successfully tackle the threat of climate change.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel believes the outcome shows that ‘we merit our leadership role’ and that it would send an ‘important signal’ to Poznan, where UN negotiations were concurrently taking place on a global climate change deal, which is expected in Copenhagen a year from now. This enthusiasm was reiterated by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown who argued that the ‘principles that underly Europe's leadership on the climate will be upheld’.
Outcomes
Various concessions were ultimately made in the final compromise to satisfy concerns of Member States with large industrial bases, who believe the package could have detrimental effects on their economies.
Germany, who has a large and influential industrial sector and has repeatedly raised concerns about the threat of carbon leakage, negotiated that certain industries would be provided with 100% of their emissions charges free of charge. Indeed the payment system for carbon allowances will be staggered, with other industries being offered 20% of these allowances for free in 2013, rising to 100% in 2027.
There were also changes made to the auctioning system following further pressure from Germany, which will allow Member States to use some of the revenues from the emission trading scheme (ETS) to build new ‘highly efficient power plants’. In addition, some of the EU’s less developed countries, including Hungary, Czech Republic and Bulgaria, accepted the package after it was agreed that electricity companies in these Member States would only be obliged to buy 30% of their emission rights under the auctioning system as off 2013.
Another big concession in the final compromise sees the possibility for domestic emissions obligations of EU countries being offset by investment in clean technology in third world countries, with potentially up to 70% of national targets being achieved in this way.
Finally, on the subject of the development of carbon capture and storage (CCS), governments agreed to a deal that came close to matching the Parliament’s proposal in terms of financing, but which has upset environmentalists. The money from 300 million emissions permits will be allocated for the development of 10-12 CCS demonstration plants and will roughly equate to between €6-7 billion, or 50 million credits less than the Parliament suggested.
Reaction
EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso insisted that this accord was evidence that ‘Europe has passed its credibility test’, although for the deal to be finalised it still needs to be approved by the European Parliament, the EU’s co-legislator. This was something that GLOBE MEP Avril Doyle, Parliament’s rapporteur on ETS, was keen to emphasise, saying ‘nothing is decided until a sign-off under the equal co-decision procedure between the European Council and the Parliament’.
Joint leaders of the Greens, Dany Cohn-Bendit and Monica Frassoni believe ‘EU heads of state and government have shown that they are not up to the task of meeting the biggest challenge of our time’, a clear indication of the Green party’s dissatisfaction with the outcome.
The proposed package was met with even greater frustration by environmental groups with Climate Action Network Europe, Friends of the Earth Europe, Greenpeace, Oxfam and WWF describing the deal as “a dark day for European climate policy”, claiming leaders have “reneged on their promises and turned their backs on global efforts to fight climate change”.
Attention will now turn to the European Parliament, who, on 17 December, will vote on the compromise put forward at the EU summit. It remains to be seen what will happen if the deal is rejected, as the French had made reaching an agreement the top priority of their Presidency. This has led Sarkozy to suggest that in this eventuality, an extraordinary summit could be held on 27 December, to ensure this deadline is met.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel believes the outcome shows that ‘we merit our leadership role’ and that it would send an ‘important signal’ to Poznan, where UN negotiations were concurrently taking place on a global climate change deal, which is expected in Copenhagen a year from now. This enthusiasm was reiterated by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown who argued that the ‘principles that underly Europe's leadership on the climate will be upheld’.
Outcomes
Various concessions were ultimately made in the final compromise to satisfy concerns of Member States with large industrial bases, who believe the package could have detrimental effects on their economies.
Germany, who has a large and influential industrial sector and has repeatedly raised concerns about the threat of carbon leakage, negotiated that certain industries would be provided with 100% of their emissions charges free of charge. Indeed the payment system for carbon allowances will be staggered, with other industries being offered 20% of these allowances for free in 2013, rising to 100% in 2027.
There were also changes made to the auctioning system following further pressure from Germany, which will allow Member States to use some of the revenues from the emission trading scheme (ETS) to build new ‘highly efficient power plants’. In addition, some of the EU’s less developed countries, including Hungary, Czech Republic and Bulgaria, accepted the package after it was agreed that electricity companies in these Member States would only be obliged to buy 30% of their emission rights under the auctioning system as off 2013.
Another big concession in the final compromise sees the possibility for domestic emissions obligations of EU countries being offset by investment in clean technology in third world countries, with potentially up to 70% of national targets being achieved in this way.
Finally, on the subject of the development of carbon capture and storage (CCS), governments agreed to a deal that came close to matching the Parliament’s proposal in terms of financing, but which has upset environmentalists. The money from 300 million emissions permits will be allocated for the development of 10-12 CCS demonstration plants and will roughly equate to between €6-7 billion, or 50 million credits less than the Parliament suggested.
Reaction
EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso insisted that this accord was evidence that ‘Europe has passed its credibility test’, although for the deal to be finalised it still needs to be approved by the European Parliament, the EU’s co-legislator. This was something that GLOBE MEP Avril Doyle, Parliament’s rapporteur on ETS, was keen to emphasise, saying ‘nothing is decided until a sign-off under the equal co-decision procedure between the European Council and the Parliament’.
Joint leaders of the Greens, Dany Cohn-Bendit and Monica Frassoni believe ‘EU heads of state and government have shown that they are not up to the task of meeting the biggest challenge of our time’, a clear indication of the Green party’s dissatisfaction with the outcome.
The proposed package was met with even greater frustration by environmental groups with Climate Action Network Europe, Friends of the Earth Europe, Greenpeace, Oxfam and WWF describing the deal as “a dark day for European climate policy”, claiming leaders have “reneged on their promises and turned their backs on global efforts to fight climate change”.
Attention will now turn to the European Parliament, who, on 17 December, will vote on the compromise put forward at the EU summit. It remains to be seen what will happen if the deal is rejected, as the French had made reaching an agreement the top priority of their Presidency. This has led Sarkozy to suggest that in this eventuality, an extraordinary summit could be held on 27 December, to ensure this deadline is met.
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