EUClimateChangePolicy
Beyond2012
WhatisEurope’sroleincombatingclimatechange?
By Dr Stefan Ulreich
L
ooking at its contribution to global GHG emissions, cost benefit analysis, it will be cheaper to make those
Europe accounts for a rather limited and decreasing investmentsnow.Hence,aninterestingscenariodevelops:The
share. This is mainly due to other regions showing a benefits of the investments will not be experienced by the
substantialincreaseinGHGemissionsandEurope(oratleast investors, but by their children.
1
The Bruntland Report
theEU-27)exhibitingemissionreductiongoals.Europeisable emphasises that the welfare of future generations is part of
todevelopanddelivertechnologicalsolutionsthatwillreduce sustainabledevelopment.However,thecurrentrecessionalso
harmful emissions and will consequently help other regions putsmorepressureoneconomicallyefficientsolutionsforGHG
withtheirGHGabatement.WhilstEuropemayleadtheway, abatement. Since finance is scarce, the least expensive
otherregionswillneedtoacturgently. solutionshavetobeconsideredfirst.
To develop the required climate
WhilstEuropemayleadthe
WhereasfortheEUpolicyuntil2020
friendly technologies, investment in
research and development and the
way,otherregionswillneed
some cornerstones now are already
defined and the legislative process has
deployment of new technologies are
toacturgently
started,thefuturebeyond2020israther
needed. Consequently, the most vague.Thishassevereimplicationsfor
important task for any regulatory framework is to give investments in the energy sector and in research and
sufficient incentives for such investments. Thus, old and development activities. Sustainability of investment not only
carbonintenseprocesseswillbereplacedbymoreefficientand necessitatesconsiderationofenvironmentalissuesbutequally
low carbon technologies. The energy sector, as a major important for the energy sector are security of supply and
contributortoGHGemissions,hasanobligationtomakethe affordabilityofenergy.
necessary investments in a sustainable manner. The
investment cycle of the sector, however, needs a reliable and General Background
predictable long-term framework and the climate change Amongthemanyhumanactivitiesthatproducegreenhouse
challengeneedsalong-termview.Itisnotanissuethatcanbe gases,theuseofenergyrepresentsthelargestsource.Energy
solved within a few months but one that can and must be accountsforroughly60%ofglobalanthropogenicGHGs,with
solvedwithinafewdecades. emissions resulting from the production, transformation,
Reducing GHG emissions places a financial burden on processing and consumption of all kinds of energy. Smaller
society. Following the Stern Report (2006), the potential long- shares of GHG are accounted for by agriculture, producing
term cumulative costs for doing nothing are forecast to be mainly CH
4
and N
2
O from domestic livestock [e.g. enteric
higher than the estimated abatement costs. Therefore, on a fermentation (CH
4
and N
2
O)], manure management (N
2
O),
Figure 1: The Six Kyoto Gases
Figure 2: Sector Contributions to EU-27 Emissions
Data presented in CO
2
-equivalent). CO
2
exhibits the largest share
and in total is responsible for slightly more than three quarters of
globalemissions. Source: European Energy Agency; Annual European Community
Source: FourthAssessmentReportoftheIPCC. GreenhouseGasInventory1990–2006andinventoryreport2008.
worldPower2009 113
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