MEPs call for 40% cut in CO2 emissions by 2030; criticise 'unambitious' EC proposals
Thu 06 February 2014
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MEPs have voted for a 40% cut in CO2 emissions, a 30% target for renewable energy and a 40% target for energy efficiency by 2030, under the EU's new long-term climate-change policy. MEPs say the targets should be binding and they also criticise the European Commission's recent proposals as short-sighted and unambitious.
In a resolution adopted by 341 votes to 263, with 26 abstentions, the Parliament voted to set a 2030 EU target to reduce domestic greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% from 1990 levels. It also wants an energy efficiency target of 40%, in line with research on the cost-effective potential, and a commitment to producing at least 30% of total final energy consumption from renewable energy sources.
The targets should be binding, MEPs say, and implemented through individual national targets, taking account of each member state’s situation and potential.
The proposal was stronger than the one issued from the European Commission last month which called for 27% of energy to come from renewable sources by the same date. Under the Commission's plan, there was no target for energy efficiency, and the UK was successful in ensuring that the renewables target would be binding only at the bloc level.
Ed Davey, the UK Energy and Climate Change Secretary (reported in The Guardian) said: "The right 2030 package will unlock low carbon investment, while keeping consumers' energy bills down. The vote in the European Parliament is one stage in the process and we are pleased that MEPs have come out in favour of an ambitious climate package for 2030.
"I am leading the argument for the right package through the Green Growth Group, which fifteen countries are now part of. Over the last two days I have been talking to my colleagues in Berlin and in Paris to ensure we can get agreement to a progressive plan that will reduce emissions without unnecessary costs."
Connie Hedegaard, the EU's Climate Commissioner, said the vote was a "good result" and she hoped European governments would "listen" to it.
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