Committee of the Regions rapporteur Annabelle Jaeger regrets severe lack of ambition of EU climate change targets agreed by European Council
«The results of yesterday’s meeting of the EU heads of state and government on the EU climate change targets are deeply disappointing, because they show that EU leaders have not understood the urgency of tackling both climate change and energy security» said PES Group member Annabelle Jaeger, CoR rapporteur on the 2030 framework for climate and energy.
«The European Council, under pressure from some Member States that did not want ambitious climate targets, has gone even below the already weak targets proposed by the European Commission», pointed out Annabelle Jaeger, who calls in her report, adopted by the CoR earlier this month and supported by the overwhelming majority of its members, for binding targets of 50% CO² reduction, 40% renewable energy and 40% energy efficiency. Local and regional authorities, who are in the front line when it comes to addressing climate change challenges, have thus committed themselves to leading the way in increasing the EU’s energy independence and helping vulnerable consumers. Instead, EU leaders agreed on just 40% C0² reduction by 2030, a 27% target for renewables, and a non-binding target of 27% for energy efficiency.
«The ambitious EU position on climate change that had been promised could not be endorsed, which is damaging for the environment, for the EU’s role in the global climate talks, and for many Member States and their regions. Even though it is positive that the targets agreed are just minimum targets, we have seen how difficult it is to go higher. We now have to keep up the pressure to move beyond this agreement and to work hard for a real leap forward at the Paris Climate Summit 2015. A lot will depend on local and regional authorities, which need to act swiftly in order to implement the targets» underlined Annabelle Jaeger.