Climate change

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change today published the report of its first working group, as part of the long-awaited 5th assessment report on the science of climate change. Commenting on the report and the implications for EU climate policy, Green climate spokesperson Satu Hassi said:

"Today's report confirms the increasing global scientific conviction about the impact of human activities on climate change and the implications this will have if left unchecked. The window of opportunity for taking action to reduce our emissions and preventing runaway climate change is closing, yet the EU response to climate change is slowing, rather than strengthening. The EU needs to make climate change a policy priority again and end its climate prevarication. This means repairing its malfunctioning existing climate policy measures, notably increasing the outdated 2020 greenhouse gas reduction target and fixing the emissions trading scheme. It also means setting longer term targets for greenhouse gas emissions reductions."

Green climate spokesperson Bas Eickhout added:

"The next crucial milestone for the EU is 2030 and the EU must take swift steps to adopt ambitious climate and energy targets for this timeframe, notably a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 60% by 2030 from their 1990 levels. This is essential for investor certainty and to ensure those EU businesses that have invested in good faith on the basis of EU climate policy are not punished, as well as to ensure the EU stays on track as part of global efforts to tackle climate change. The IPCC report makes clear that we cannot continue burning fossil fuels if we are to prevent extreme climate change. For the EU, this means moving to a fossil-fuel free and 100% renewable energy-powered economy by 2050."

A new Greens/EFA brochure on the IPCC report can be found at: http://stopclimatechange.net/fileadmin/content/documents/international-climate-discussions/IPCC_210x210_12S_08.pdf