Advancing carbon markets

Progress towards these objectives will be measured against five representative headline EU-level targets, which Member States will be asked to translate into national targets reflecting starting points:

-       75 % of the population aged 20-64 should be employed.

-       3% of the EU’s GDP should be invested in R&D.

-       The “20/20/20″ climate/energy targets should be met.

-       Early school leavers should be under 10% and at least 40% of the younger generation have a diploma

-       20 million less people should be at risk of poverty.

More info at the EU 2020 website.

a) encourage the development of the necessary infrastructure in Europe for new mobility technologies, in particular for battery recharging;
b) stress the importance of RTD and innovation for further improving the technological performance and attractiveness of clean and energy-efficient vehicles to the consumer, such as battery improvement;
c) pay particular attention to ensuring a comprehensive single market and develop normalisation and standardisation in the field of clean and energy-efficient vehicles, in particular in the area of vehicles safety, and to promote relevant actions in response to interfaces between vehicles and network’s infrastructures;
d) promote measures to encourage the global competitiveness of the European clean and energy-efficient vehicle industry.
The EHA has stressed the importance of more coordination in the development of the infrastructure for electric vehicles including battery and as well as fuel cell electric vehicles. This topic will be discussed at the EUSEW seminar on March 23 in Brussels that the EHA is co-organising (see under EHA in Action)

MEP Chris Davies (ALDE, UK), rapporteur  of  the CCS proposal in the European Parliament, described the approval as ” the largest single financial support mechanism for carbon capture and storage anywhere in the world”. “Obviously it’s combined with renewables, but one assumes that significantly more than half will go to CCS, and I think that is a hugely important development,” he said.The CCS funding is aimed at accelerating investment so that the EU can reach its goal of having up to 12 CCS demonstration plants up and running by 2015.

But the Dane said it would not be possible to put everything under one DG. “Therefore you must do it the other way around by mainstreaming,” she said. Hedegaard pledged to work closely with other commissioners, saying legislative initiatives would often be triggered in conjunction with them. But she admitted that it would be “a bit of a fight” to push other commissioners with their own priorities to make room for a climate dimension in their portfolios. “Climate, energy security and job creation must be the EU’s vision,” she stressed.

Regarding the progress which could be made on the climate change agenda, Ms Hedegaard noted that the EU already had energy efficiency and emission reduction targets and said “the challenge for the next five years is to implement them“. However, the EU could nonetheless do more to reduce emissions from road transport, adding that she would table an integrated legislative package on climate and transport during her mandate. The legislative package, akin to that on energy and climate change agreed in 2008, would include initiatives to rein in growing emissions from transport, Hedegaard said. She spoke of the “huge challenge” facing the sector as continued growth in carbon emissions from transport is currently offseting efforts made in other areas. One of the new climate commissioner’s first initiatives will be to introduce legislation on cutting CO2 emissions from lorries. She said she would also seek to revise EU legislation on CO2 emissions from cars, which she said is outdated considering the speed at which technology is moving.  In general, the future climate commissioner supported pricing CO2 emissions in the transport sector. In her opinion, “internalising externalities,” which has been a guiding principle of the EU’s emissions trading scheme, would also work for transport.

In response to Kartika Liotard (GUE/NGL) Ms Hedegaard’s declared that “in my universe, nuclear (energy) is not a renewable resource“, but acknowledged that “the policy for a long time in the EU has been that the energy mix will be up to the countries themselves“. She had “no doubt” that nuclear energy “will also be in the world for many years“, and said that the highest priority must therefore be given to safety.

Asked by Satu Hassi (Greens/EFA), whether she would be tough “towards the most polluting form of power production – coal power“, Ms Hedegaard pointed out that coal power plants are already part of the ETS. As regards setting CO2 emission performance standards for power stations, “we should wait and see whether the CCS technology actually works“, she said.

She also expressed her disappointment on the fact that the COP15 had not delivered binding targets during her three-hour hearing in the European Parliament on Friday (15 January), but stressed that “a lot has changed in the last few years” and that the EU “had played a tremendously important role in paving the way for change“. She underlined that despite the lack of a binding agreement, COP 15 had delivered commitments on funding and an agreement to keep temperature rises below 2° C, to which both developed countries and emerging economies subscribed. “It is a bit tough to blame those who worked most to achieve a turnaround for the global climate, for those who in the end chose not to deliver,” she said in reply to critical questions from Chris Davies (ALDE, UK). She also stressed that the EU should continue to push other countries to set more ambitious targets. Asked by Bas Eickhout (Greens/EFA, NL) about plans to step up the EU emission reduction target from 20% to 30% (by 2020, from 1990 levels), she said that this should be done as soon as possible, but in a way that would encourage other countries to go further, too.

“The other day I met together with a group of companies, some of the most important in Europe, and it was felt it was fundamental that there should be co-operation and integration of efforts in developing the electric vehicle,” he told MEPs.

“If our markets don’t have a regulatory framework to provide financial support, and if we don’t have common standards on the technologies, then it will be difficult for Europe to take a leading role,” he added. However, he didn’t precise if the plan will cover only battery cars or if it will also applies to hybrid, fuel cells and biofuel.
EU industry ministers are set to launch the plan at a meeting on the 8 February in the Spanish seaside town of San Sebastian.
Greater energy self-sufficiency will also be key to sustainable European growth, said the Spanish leader whose country was one of the worst hit by the recent recession.

“In the last ten years … our energy consumption has gone up by nine percent,” he told euro deputies. “We need to reduce our dependence. If we don’t reduce it we won’t be able to have any economic growth.”  Together with the Spanish Hydrogen Association, AEH2,

The evaluation of the 30 cities’ achievements and objectives in the area of environmental and climate protection focuses on eight categories: CO2 emissions; energy; buildings; transportation; water; air quality; waste and land use; and environmental governance.

The eight categories are based on 30 individual indicators — 16 of which are quantitative (e.g. consumption of water and energy per capita, recycling rate, and use of public transportation) and 14 qualitative (e.g. CO₂ reduction targets, efficiency standards for buildings, and support for environmental protection measures). “As far as possible, the research is based on data from official sources, such as municipal statistics departments and city governments,” said Watson. The study also includes in-depth city portraits that reveal the strengths and weaknesses of each urban center, while also highlighting initiatives and projects from which other cities can learn. “A key element of the study is the comparability of the results from each city — within both the individual categories and in the overall evaluation,” added Watson.

“Our analysis indicates that European cities are leaders in environmental performance. In particular, almost all of the 30 cities — which are home to a total of nearly 75 million inhabitants — average lower per capita CO₂ emissions than EU countries,” said James Watson, managing editor at the Economist Intelligence Unit and the editor of the study. The best city in this category, Oslo, emits only 2.5 tons of CO₂ per capita and per year, far less than the EU average of 8.5 tons. What’s more, almost all of the cities have already developed and partially implemented an environmental strategy. “All of the cities face formidable challenges, however. For example, renewable sources of energy currently account for only around seven percent of these cities’ energy supply, which is significantly under the target of 20 percent set by the EU for 2020,” said Watson. Furthermore, the average share of waste that is recycled is less than 20 percent, while one in four liters of water is wasted through leakage.

Scandinavian cities generally achieve high scores. Awareness of environmental protection in these cities has been strong for years, which is reflected in the cities’ ambitious climate targets. Copenhagen, for example, aims to be carbon free by 2025. In Scandinavian countries, GDP per capita income is above average, and these wealthy countries have invested substantially in environmental protection. So far, Eastern European cities generally rank lower. This is largely due to a comparatively low gross domestic product and historic burdens, including the lack of attention paid to environmental protection in previous decades. In particular, high energy consumption in buildings and outdated infrastructures reflect this. In the area of public transportation, however, Eastern European cities often score above average: Kiev, which is ranked 30th overall, is estimated to have the highest percentage of people using public transportation to commute.

The European Green City Index is the third Siemens study to date in the Sustainable Urban Infrastructures series — after sustainability reports on London and Munich. “With this analysis we are once again underscoring our commitment to helping cities with their climate protection measures,” said Achatz. “After all, they play a key role, given that they are responsible for 80 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions and that more than half of the world’s population lives in cities today.” Siemens’ environmental portfolio makes it an ideal partner for the implementation of climate-friendly infrastructure solutions. In fiscal 2009, the company generated about €23 billion in revenue with the products and solutions of its environmental portfolio. That is approximately 30 percent of its total annual revenue.