Although the draft law includes pollutants such as sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and dust, it does not include the most important of them all: carbon dioxide. WWF is calling for carbon dioxide standards to be added to the proposal, in order to respond adequately to the increasing scale and urgency of the global climate crisis. Although including carbon dioxide could see Europe’s total greenhouse gas emissions being cut by around a quarter over the next two decades, EU ministers failed on this occasion to seize the opportunity.
“Environment ministers skipped aimlessly past what is an obvious game-changing move. In the face of increasingly stark warnings from scientists, Europe has missed a straight-forward opportunity, using a proven regulatory tool, to plan the phase-out of dirty coal-fired power stations,” said Mark Johnston, Coordinator for Power Plant CO2 Standards at WWF. “Such a move, which is still possible later this year, would inject a huge confidence boost into the slow-moving global negotiations.”
Emission performance standards have been used successfully by European law-makers for more than two decades, leading to dramatic environmental improvements on issues like acid rain and smog.
Carbon capture and storage a must
According to WWF, carbon dioxide standards should apply to the largest category of power plants – approximately 400-500 installations – which account alone for around 25% of Europe’s total emissions. Compared to other sectors, electricity has the greatest potential to decarbonise rapidly.
Such standards would mean, for example, that no new coal-fired power plants could be built without carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology and that existing plants must use CCS by a given year, e.g. 2025, or close down. As an alternative, electricity companies could expand renewable energy and energy efficiency programmes.
In Europe today, around 50 conventional large coal-fired power stations are currently being proposed with no guarantee of carbon sequestration. If all are built, Europe will find it impossible to achieve its mid- and longer-term climate targets.
In 2007, the EU agreed to cut by 30% carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, linked to the Copenhagen agreement. Yet the EU institutions are failing to say specifically what mix of policies will be used to deliver the target domestically, as the 2008 climate package only delivers 20% and allows for a lot of offsets.
The lack of clarity regarding Europe’s Copenhagen implementation, including further emissions cuts between 2020 and 2050, is holding up investments in low-carbon technologies while allow high-carbon investments, such as new coal-fired power stations, to proceed unhindered.
The draft law will now have to go through second reading, and will be discussed by the European Parliament and Council during the run-up to and after the Copenhagen climate summit.
UN call for Green Economy
The new draft law was passed a day after at least 21 UN agencies backed the call for a world-wide transition to a low carbon, resource efficient Green Economy able to deliver multiple economic, social and environmental opportunities in the 21st century.
In a statement, issued at the General Assembly Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and it Impact on Development held in New York during 24-26 June, the agencies noted that the current financial and economic crisis required a collective response from the global community which would lay a solid foundation for shared growth and sustainable development. Leading economies should ensure that developing countries should have the fiscal resources to launch their own stimulus programmes and have increased access to international markets for a rapid resumption of trade.
"I am very pleased to present this statement on behalf of sister agencies in the UN System," said Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director. "Delivering a transition to a low carbon, resource efficient Green Economy cannot occur without the creativity, vision, actions and support of a broad cross section of society—this rapid harmonization of perspectives from so many agencies reflects their determination to be agents of change towards a sustainable 21st century. The statement is also a strong signal from the international system backing the UN Secretary General in his repeated calls for a deal to be sealed in Copenhagen," Mr. Steiner added.
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