BOSTON, Massachusetts, November 19, 2008 (ENS) – Five large U.S. corporations and a coalition of investors and environmental groups today announced that they have formed a new organization to lobby for strong U.S. climate and energy legislation in early 2009 to spur a clean energy economy and reduce global warming.

The founding members of Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy, to be known as BICEP, are Levi Strauss & Co., Nike, Starbucks, Sun Microsystems and The Timberland Company.

BICEP members believe that climate change impacts will ripple across all sectors of the economy and that new business perspectives are needed to solve the climate and energy challenges facing America.

“These companies have a clear message for next year’s Congress – move quickly on climate change to kick-start a transition to a prosperous clean energy economy fueled by green jobs,” said Mindy Lubber, president of Ceres, the coalition of investors and public interest groups that helped to organize BICEP.

The BICEP companies said today that greenhouse gas reduction targets should be set to at least 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Of all the target figures demanded by various groups, these are some of the strictest.

To accomplish these goals, they would like to see the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama and the new Democrat-controlled Congress establish an economy-wide greenhouse gas cap-and-trade system that auctions 100 percent of carbon pollution allowances, promotes energy efficiency and accelerates clean energy technologies.

BICEP’s plan includes a redoubling of energy efficiency efforts, fuel-efficient vehicles, plug-in electric hybrids, low-carbon fuels, and transit-oriented development.

They would stimulate job growth through investment in climate-based solutions, especially green-collar jobs in low-income and climate-vulnerable communities.

They would have the government adopt a national renewable portfolio standard requiring 20 percent of electricity to be generated from renewable energy sources by 2020, and 30 percent by 2030.

Clean energy can lead to green collar
jobs, such as manufacturing wind turbines
at this new Clipper Windpower plant in
Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (Photo courtesy
Clipper Windpower)

And they would limit construction of new coal-fired power plants to those that capture and store carbon emissions. They would create incentives for carbon capture technology on new and existing plants, and phase out existing coal-based power plants that do not capture and store carbon by 2030.

The new coalition’s goal is to work directly with key allies in the business community and members of Congress to pass meaningful energy and climate change legislation.

They will likely find allies among the member companies and environmental groups in the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, USCAP, a coalition of 26 corporations and six nonprofit environmental and conservation organizations established in January 2007 to encourage goverment to establish a cap-and-trade program for carbon emissions.

USCAP held a press conference in Washington Tuesday to make the economic case for cap-and-trade legislation that they would like to see written soon after the Obama administration picks up the reins of power.

The non-partisan group said that cap-and-trade legislation is urgently needed to prevent the serious impacts of climate change and will create new economic opportunities.

“While the magnitude of needed reductions are not free of costs, legislation is necessary to spur innovation in green technologies that will create jobs, increase economic activity and provide the foundation for a vibrant, low-carbon economy,” USCAP said in a statement.

“The economic opportunity embedded within the shift away from fossil fuels is historic,” said David Crane, NRG Energy’s chief executive. “For example, think of the enormous fortunes made by those who were on the right side of the shift from the horse to the internal combustion engine. The right climate solution, a moderate price on carbon, can help create real economic opportunities.”

“Investment in new technologies and the infrastructure needed for a low-carbon economy are effective ways to generate the jobs and economic growth the U.S. needs to address the current economic crisis,” said James Rogers, CEO of Duke Energy. “We must position the U.S. to succeed in the new low-carbon, global economy and this is the best way to accomplish that.”

USCAP includes the following corporations and environmental NGOs: Alcoa, AIG, Boston Scientific, BP America, Caterpillar, ConocoPhillips, Chrysler, John Deere, Dow, Duke Energy, DuPont, Environmental Defense Fund, Exelon, Ford, FPL Group, General Electric, General Motors, Johnson & Johnson, Marsh, National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council, NRG Energy, The Nature Conservancy, PepsiCo, Pew Center on Global Climate Change, PG&E, PNM Resources, Rio Tinto, Shell, Siemens, World Resources Institute, and Xerox.

At the press conference, Environmental Defense Fund President Fred Krupp cited a recent University of Maryland study showing that unchecked climate change will strain public budgets and cut growth across all sectors of the economy.

By contrast, a cap-and-trade program designed to cut carbon emissions could provide an economic stimulus, he said.

“A cap can instantly create new customers and new jobs for U.S. manufacturers in the supply chain for clean energy. Think of wind turbines and all of the cement and steel that go into them,” said Krupp. “It’s the energy and economic revitalization policy America needs now.”

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STOCKTON, California, September 17, 2008 (ENS) – The central California city of Stockton has agreed to identify and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by encouraging downtown growth instead of allowing development to sprawl. The city will cut down on emissions by constructing thousands of new residential units within its current city limits, putting a rapid transit bus system in place and requiring all new buildings to be energy efficient.

On September 9, California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. announced the terms of the landmark agreement that will settle a lawsuit brought against the central California city by the Sierra Club.

“We cannot reach our statewide greenhouse gas reduction targets without the cooperation of our largest and fastest growing cities,” said Brown. “Stockton has shown leadership on this issue, enabling us to work together to meet our targets for significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This agreement is a critical part of California’s effort to address climate change.”

This agreement comes after the city issued a Draft Environmental Impact Report for its General Plan that outlined how the city would manage its growth through 2035.

The report, issued in December 2007, estimated that by 2035, Stockton’s population would reach 580,000, an increase of almost 50 percent.

In January 2008, the Sierra Club filed a lawsuit to block Stockton’s General Plan, claiming that it failed to address the amount of greenhouse gases the city would emit into an already heavily polluted San Joaquin Valley.

The Attorney General’s Office entered into negotiations with Stockton earlier this year, citing concerns about the General Plan and the need to evaluate greenhouse gas reduction impacts under the California Environmental Quality Act.

“We are grateful that the attorney general came to Stockton and became involved in the city’s growth plan. The settlement represents a huge step forward for good planning that should slow down sprawl at the fringe of the city and reduce the increase in greenhouse gases due to new growth,” said Dale Stocking, an executive committee member of the Sierra Club’s Mother Lode Chapter.

Freeways criss-cross Stockton, California
(Photo credit unknown)

“The city’s commitment to adopt comprehensive green building standards and provide developer funding for a transit system should reduce vehicle trips and make Stockton a leader in the Central Valley and the state,” he said.

Under a California law passed in 2006, the state is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

In 2005, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger issued an executive order requiring an additional reduction of emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.

Currently, California generates approximately 500 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent, a number that is above 1990 levels. To achieve the 2020 target, California must reduce current emissions by at least 10 percent, said Brown.

“We appreciate the collaboration with the Attorney General’s Office; this is a win-win situation in which we can address environmentally sensitive issues,” said Stockton Mayor Edward Chavez.

“Certainly, the attorney general and his staff have been tremendous in getting this agreement put together,” the mayor said. “It will be a model that can be replicated in other communities.”

Located about 90 miles inland of San Francisco in the agricultural Central Valley, Stockton has experienced a population boom over the past decade as thousands of people have settled here to escape the relatively high cost of living in the Bay Area.

The city is an inland seaport surrounded by the thousands of miles of waterways and rivers that make up the California Delta.

To reduce sprawl under the agreement, the city will construct nearly 18,000 new home units within the current city limits, including 4,400 units to be built in downtown Stockton. The city will adopt green building regulations to ensure that new buildings are energy-efficient, conserve water and are built with eco-friendly materials.

Any new development in the city will have to be transit-friendly, and new commercial and residential development will be located near mass-transit stops.

Though new development will continue at city outskirts, the city agreed to phase it in gradually. Before approving new developments, the city will demonstrate that the projects will not undermine downtown Stockton and will complement existing commercial and residential zones.

Stockton is not the first California government to attract the attention of the attorney general over environmental concerns. San Bernardino County, Solano County, Tulare County, the city of San Diego, as well as regional transportation plans, refineries, cement plants, dairy expansions, and other large projects have also been challenged..

On their own, many California communities have begun to initiate measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including Fresno, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sonoma County, Santa Monica, Berkeley, Marin County, Palo Alto, Chula Vista and Modesto.

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TOYAKO, Japan, July 7, 2008 (ENS) – Climate change and world hunger, oil production and rice production, energy security and disaster reduction – all these environmental issues were discussed by leaders of the world’s wealthiest countries today, the opening day of the Group of Eight, G8, Summit at the Windsor Hotel Toya Resort and Spa in Toyako.

On Sunday, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and U.S. President George W. Bush held a bilateral meeting and then briefed journalists, but they offered little insight into whether the G8 meeting would agree on a specific long-term target for greenhouse gas reductions.

U.S. President George W. Bush
and Japan’s Prime Minister Yasuo
Fukuda at a joint press availability
Sunday, July 6, 2008, at the
Windsor Hotel Toya Resort and Spa.
(Photo by Eric Draper courtesy
The White House)

G8 discussions Tuesday and Wednesday will center on this issue to which the two countries come with divergent perspectives. Japan is trying to meet its greenhouse gas reduction target under the Kyoto Protocol, while the United States opted out of the protocol although it is the world’s second largest emitter of heat-trapping gases after China.

In Germany last year, the G8 leaders indicated a desire to give serious consideration to cutting emissions in half by 2050, but the United States resisted a firm commitment to that goal. This year’s meeting is likely to follow the same pattern.

Prime Minister Fukuda said, “On whether G8 will agree on long-term target or not, that is something that G8 is continuing consultations. So at this stage what I wish to say is that we leaders will get down to in-depth discussions on this day after tomorrow.”

“On climate change,” said Fukuda, “we have a common understanding that is our common responsibility to leave the beautiful Earth to our posterity since this – climate change is one of the most severe challenges that humankind faces today, and that we shall continue to cooperate with the G8.”

The Japanese prime minister said discussions have been ongoing, “And through these consultations, I think our views are gradually converging.”

President Bush said, “The United States will – we’re working, working to see if we can come up with a constructive – constructive statement.

“I’ve always advocated that there needs to be a common understanding, and that starts with a goal,” said Bush. “And I also am realistic enough to tell you that if China and India don’t share that same aspiration, that we’re not going to solve the problem.”

Addressing climate change and energy, Bush focused on his perennial theme that technology and more domestic oil production will meet the challenge. He reminded people “that the United States and Japan really do lead the world in research when it comes to clean technologies.”

The president told reporters at the briefing, “Japan is going to lead the world when it comes to battery technologies, and that I anticipate our country will be able to be using battery technologies in automobiles that look like cars, not golf carts, and which will save us a lot of – a lot of, you know, reliance upon oil.”

“For seven years I’ve been trying to get the Congress to explore for oil domestically,” said Bush. “Now is the time, when they come back from their 4th of July vacations, to open up ANWR [the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge] and open up the Outer Continental Shelf, so that we can say to the world that we will do our part in increasing supply, so that we can transition from this period of reliance upon hydrocarbons to a new period of advanced technologies.”

On African development, Bush and Fukuda said they had agreed on greater cooperation to increase the production of major crops in Africa, including doubling of rice production, and to promote their trade and distribution.

On Sunday, G8 leaders met with representatives of African nations – Senegal and Ghana, South Africa, Tanzania, Nigeria, Algeria, Ethiopia, and the chair of the African Union – to discuss food and energy, clean energy development, water projects, health, trade and investment.

The African leaders emphasized the need to boost agricultural productivity. They stressed the need for new technologies and for educating agricultural scientists and for having access not only to immediate food assistance, but non-food assistance, such as fertilizer and high yielding seeds, according to Dan Price, assistant to President Bush for international economic affairs, who briefed reporters after the meeting.

“In this regard, the President again emphasized the importance of biotechnology, and in particular the importance of the developed world, all of the developed world opening its markets to crops grown with biotechnology, so that poor African farmers may have the benefit of these seeds and the domestic increase in crop yields, and have access to foreign markets,” said Price.

President Bush often has pressed for greater acceptance of genetically modified food crops, over the resistance of many African countries, with the interests of U.S. farmers in mind. In the United States in 2006, 89 percent of the planted area of soybeans, 83 percent of cotton, and 61 percent corn were genetically modified varieties.

But genetic modification actually cuts the productivity of crops, according to a study released in April by scientists at the University of Kansas, who found that GM soya produces about 10 percent less food than traditional soya, contradicting claims by biotech advocates that it increases yields.

Also in April, the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development concluded that genetically modified crops are not the answer to world hunger.

“One thing that was very clear from these meetings,” said Price, “there was universal emphasis by virtually all African leaders on the essential need for G8 countries to honor their past commitments in respect of health and development assistance. This was a point of emphasis by virtually every African speaker.”

At the African leaders’ meeting there was very little discussion about climate change. The focus really was on health, on agriculture, on education, on infrastructure development, said Price. “The observations that came from African leaders about climate change were more or less focused on what the G8 could do in terms of in the area of science and technology, developing technologies and making those available in Africa and the developing world.”

The G8 leaders will conclude their meeting on Wednesday with a declaration outlining their decisions.

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KOBE, Japan, May 27, 2008 (ENS) – Environment ministers from the Group of Eight industrialized nations concluded a three-day meeting in Kobe Monday with an agreement on the long-term goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050.

But the ministers failed to support specific emissions reduction targets for 2020, as recommended last year by an international body of climate scientists, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC.

Still, the G8 environment ministers said there is “strong political will” to reduce the greenhouse gases responsible for climate change during the G8 leaders annual summit set for July 7 to 9 on the Japanese island of Hokkaido.

“Last year, the G8 leaders agreed to seriously consider reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least half by 2050. Strong political will was expressed to go beyond this agreement and reach agreement on a shared vision of long-term global goals at the G8 Hokkaido summit,” says the chairman’s summary of the meeting.

Developed countries should take the lead in achieving a significant reduction, the summary adds.

On Sunday, Japanese Environment Minister Ichiro Kamoshita called for the launch of an international network of institutions to facilitate the transition to low-carbon societies, a prerequisite to achieving any greenhouse gas reduction target.

“I hope that this goal will constitute a shared vision among the participating countries to the G-8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit this year,” Kamoshita said in a address to his colleagues. He said the participation of China, India, the United States and other major greenhouse gas emitters is crucial to the success of the initiative.

Japan’s Environment Minister Ichiro Kamoshita,
center is surrounded by G8 environment
ministers and outreach delegates
wearing traditional Japanese happi
coats. May 24, 2008

But the United States, as the only member of the G8 not to have ratified the Kyoto Protocol on limiting greenhouse gas emissions, resisted setting any medium term target for the year 2020.

Kamoshita and Scott Fulton, deputy assistant administrator with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, maintained that it is too early for the G8 to set midterm targets. They said such commitments should be the result of negotiations between now and 2009 that will lead to a climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

Environment ministers from Britain and Canada expressed a sense of urgency in Kobe about moving forward toward a medium-term reduction target agreement by then.

The European Union has pledged a 20 percent emissions reduction by 2020, and has offered to raise it to 30 percent if other nations sign on.

“We need long-term and midterm reduction targets, as well as national action plans to achieve those targets,” said German Environment Minister Matthias Machnig at a news conference Monday morning.

Kamoshita said more study is needed. “For midterm reduction targets, the important issue is how to take the IPCC knowledge into consideration to come up with a viable target. At this point in time, I’m not sure it’s appropriate to cite specific figures at the negotiation table.”

Winding up the meeting Monday, Kamoshita said, “I believe the agreement achieved at the meeting will be a major force behind the upcoming G8 summit in Toyako, Hokkaido. The agreement is also expected to help international efforts in establishing a new framework to fight global warming.”

In addition to climate change, the G8 environment ministers agreed that their governments should come up with national action plans and implementation strategies to protect biodiversity, in line with an international biodiversity conference taking place this week in Bonn. They said biodiversity and climate change are closely related issues.

The Group of Eight, G8, is an international forum for the governments of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States to discuss issues of common concern. Though the group’s origins date back to the early 1970s, it did not become the Group of Eight until 1997 when Russia formally joined.

Along with the G8 environment ministers and the European Commission, nine other countries participated in the Kobe event, including Antigua and Barbuda representing small island states, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Korea, and South Africa.

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ALBANY, New York, April 6, 2008 (ENS) – A new reporting standard to help track the emissions of greenhouse gases in North America was announced Wednesday by New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis.

The Climate Registry, a nonprofit partnership of which New York is a board member, released its General Reporting Protocol which provides a comprehensive guideline for how greenhouse gas emissions will be measured, verified and reported by participants in the Registry’s voluntary program.

“Every New Yorker has a vital stake in the success of controlling greenhouse gas emissions and limiting climate change,” Grannis said.

“Through The Climate Registry, we are beginning the crucial work of developing a reliable inventory of actual greenhouse gas emissions. Any firm, institution or organization that emits greenhouse gases needs this information to make the right decisions about how real reductions can take place and make a difference in the fight against global warming.”

Correct information about emissions is the basis for effective climate change policy and for cost-efficient investments in greenhouse gas reduction.

The Climate Registry provides a consistent way for companies, governments and organizations to count and report their emissions from greenhouse gas sources under their control, and to track progress toward meeting greenhouse gas emission reduction goals.

By enrolling in the Registry, participants benefit by getting access to user-friendly web-based software and technical assistance in developing their greenhouse gas inventories.

The Climate Registry is a national, nonprofit organization that has established a common system for state and tribally recognized greenhouse gas emissions records.

The organization’s Board of Directors includes representatives from 39 U.S. states, including New York, eight Canadian provinces, six Mexican states, three native tribes, and the District of Columbia.

The Registry’s General Reporting Protocol announced today is significant because it defines the methodology that will be used to calculate, verify, and publicly report greenhouse gas emissions.

Correct data in The Climate Registry will ensure that emissions reduction programs are consistent across borders and industry sectors, and that responsibility for controlling emissions is shared equitably.

The new protocol will ensure that the emissions data are accurate, complete, consistent, and verified.

The Registry will ensure consistency and transparency between programs, and will establish a high level of integrity in emissions accounting and reporting. The Protocol document incorporates public comments from workshops conducted throughout North America.

All New York businesses, nonprofit organizations, universities and municipalities are encouraged, although not required, to join The Climate Registry and begin measuring and reporting greenhouse gas emissions.

Seventy-three corporations, nonprofit organizations, cities, and counties are currently reporting their greenhouse gas emissions to The Climate Registry.

Entities reporting to The Climate Registry agree to calculate both direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions. Direct emissions include those from on-site combustion, manufacturing processes and transportation fleets.

Emissions associated with electricity and steam consumption are the only indirect emissions required to be reported. However, reporters to the Registry are also encouraged to register additional indirect emissions.

Reporters measure and report emissions of the same six greenhouse gases specified for reduction by the Kyoto Protocol – carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride.

The New York Department of Environmental Conservation is currently in the process of joining the Registry as a reporting member, and will voluntarily report the agency’s emissions data.

Organizations that join The Climate Registry as reporters before May 1, 2008, will be considered “Founding Reporters” and will receive continued recognition for their outstanding environmental leadership in measuring and publicly reporting their greenhouse gas emissions on a voluntary basis.

The Climate Registry is complementary to New York’s ongoing implementation of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, RGGI, a program in which 10 Northeastern states have agreed to implement a carbon dioxide cap-and-trade program for the generation of electricity.

RGGI’s first auction of carbon dioxide allowances has been set for September 2008, with implementation of the RGGI program beginning in January 2009.

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BRUSSELS, Belgium, January 24, 2008 (ENS) – The European Commission has released a set of proposals to expand the current greenhouse gas Emission Trading System to combat global warming and promote renewable energy in the period beyond 2012, when the present trading period ends.

At a news conference introducing the proposals Wednesday, Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas warned, “On current trends, climate change will almost certainly be endangering the lives of millions of people and causing serious disruption to our economies within the lifetimes of many in this room today.”

“Europe and the rest of the world have to act fast, and act boldly, if we are to prevent this catastrophe,” he said. “Today’s package underlines the European Union’s determination to continue leading global action by example.”

Germany’s coal-burning
Heilbron power plant (Photo by
Sebastian Stumpf)

Currently the system allows trading in emissions of carbon dioxide and covers power stations and other combustion plants, oil refineries, coke ovens, iron and steel plants and factories making cement, glass, lime, bricks, ceramics, pulp, paper and board.

The Commission now proposes to include additional sectors and greenhouse gases. Six gases are governed under the Kyoto Protocol, to which the EU member states and the European Union adhere.

Carbon dioxide emissions from petrochemicals, ammonia and aluminium will be included in the expanded trading system, as will emissions of nitrous oxide, N2O, from the production of nitric, adipic and glyoxylic acid. Emissions allowances of perfluorocarbons from the aluminium sector will also be traded.

The capture, transport and geological storage of all greenhouse gas emissions will also be covered.

The new proposals are introduced to help the European Union achieve its greenhouse gas reduction target agreed at the March 2007 meeting of the European Council of Ministers.

At that meeting, the EU adopted an emissions reduction target of at least 20 percent by 2020 compared with 1990 levels.

The reductions target would be raised to 30 percent as long as other industrialized countries commit to comparable efforts in the framework of a global agreement to combat climate change after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

At the December 2007 United Nations climate change conference in Bali, all nations reached consensus that they would negotiate a global agreement to curb climate change to take the place of the Kyoto Protocol. If that agreement is finalized, it would trigger the EU’s 30 percent greenhouse gas reduction target.

The decision to launch EU-wide negotiations to strengthen the Emissions Trading System was taken at Bali and the negotiations are expected to start in March or April.

Dimas called the 30 percent cut in emissions “crucial.”

“It is a 30 percent cut by developed countries that is needed to get global emissions onto a downward track – and it is a 30 percent cut that we will continue to press for in the international negotiations launched at Bali,” he said.

The European Environmental Bureau, EEB, the largest federation of environmental citizens organizations in Europe representing 143 organizations in 31 countries, welcomed the proposals as “a first step” but said they fall short of what is needed to really curb climate change.

EEB Secretary-General John Hontelez said, “The Commission has been under massive pressure from industry coalitions and several member states to present watered-down proposals and it has, to a certain extent, given in to that pressure.”

“The EEB insists that the EU stick to its agreed objective of keeping global warming below 2 degrees Celsius, which would require the EU to go for a 30 percent reduction target, rather than the 20 percent proposed today,” Hontelez said.

“This would be in line with the Bali conclusion that industrialized countries have cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25-40 percent by 2020,” he said.

Under the new proposals, if all 27 European Union member states and the European Parliament agree, there will be one EU-wide cap on the number of emission allowances instead of the current system of 27 national caps.

The annual cap will decrease along a linear trend line, which will continue beyond the end of the third trading period – 2013-2020.

Industrial complex at Teeside,
England (Photo by Ian Britton
courtesy FreeFoto.com)

The system will remain based on trading periods, but the third trading period will last eight years, from 2013 to 2020, as opposed to five years for the second phase from 2008 to 2012.

A much larger share of emissions allowances will be auctioned instead of allocated free of charge. And harmonized rules governing free allocation will be introduced, said the Commission, the executive branch of the EU government.

It is estimated that around 60 percent of the total number of allowances will be auctioned in 2013, and this proportion will increase in later years.

Auctioning of allowances should be the basic principle for allocation from the third phase onwards, the Commission said in a statement. “This is because auctioning best ensures the efficiency, transparency and simplicity of the system and creates the greatest incentive for investments in a low-carbon economy.”

It best complies with the “polluter pays principle” and avoids giving windfall profits to certain sectors that have passed on the notional cost of allowances to their customers despite receiving them for free, the Commission said.

Hontelez said the EEB “deplores” the proposed delays in moving from free emission credits to a system that requires only certain industry sectors to pay for their emissions.

EEB also rejects offering industry extra emission rights through investment in “questionable” energy projects outside the EU.

Instead, EEB is calling for “a robust penalty system for exceeding emissions limits to create a level playing field for those businesses that choose to invest in eco-innovation.”

The new Emissions Trading System proposals are detailed here.

At the same time the Commission has proposed a new law, called a directive, setting standards for renewable energy and energy efficiency, and formalizing the 20 percent greenhouse gas emissions target by 2020.

The directive includes a 20 percent increase in energy efficiency and a 20 percent share of renewables in overall EU energy consumption by 2020.

In addition, the law requires a 10 percent biofuel component in vehicle fuel by 2020 and sets sustainability standards for biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel.

The renewable energy law affects three economic sectors – electricity, heating and cooling and transport. It is up to the member states to decide on the mix of contributions from these sectors to reach their national targets, choosing the means that best suits their national circumstances.

They will also have the option of achieving their targets by supporting the development of renewable energy in other member states and third countries.

The minimum 10 percent share of biofuels in transport is applicable in all member states. “Biofuels tackle the oil dependence of the transport sector, which is one of the most serious issues affecting security of energy supply that the EU faces,” the Commission said.

Biofuels cost more than other forms of renewable energy and without a separate minimum target for biofuels, they will not be developed, said the Commission. “This matters because greenhouse gas trends are worst in transport, and biofuels are one of the few measures – alongside vehicle fuel efficiency – realistically capable of making a significant impact on greenhouse gas emissions from transport.”

While supporting the Commission’s overall efforts to boost renewables, the EEB does not approve of their continued support of “a disputable biofuels policy, despite ever louder warning signals from many sides.”

Hontelez said, “Because of the variation in quality of different biofuels, in addition to the potential knock-on ecological impacts from biodiversity loss, soil degradation and water stress, the arbitrary 10% biofuels target the Commission stubbornly supports is unlikely to provide positive results for the environment.”

The EEB wants the specific biofuels target eliminated altogether.

The Commission’s analysis shows that achieving its renewable energy targets will result in savings of 600 to 900 million metric tons of CO2 emissions per year “holding back the rate of climate change and sending a signal to other countries to do the same.”

Reductions in fossil fuel consumption of 200 to 300 million metric tons per year can be expected, the Commission said, most of it imported.

The Commission anticipates a boost for high-tech industries, new economic opportunities and jobs will result from the new law.

All this will cost approximately €13-18 billion (US$19.19 – $26.57 billion) per year.

“In terms of annual effects on GDP,” said Dimas, “which is in any case a less than perfect measure of progress, the impact of cutting emissions by 20 percent will be as low as 0.04 to 0.06 percent per year.

“As for the benefits,” he said, “the package is expected to deliver the kind of structural changes that Europe needs to remain competitive.”

“By taking the lead, Europe will be kick-starting the development of the low-carbon global economy that is vital to prevent climate change from reaching dangerous levels,” said Dimas. “We are giving ourselves a first mover advantage in a new industrial revolution that will unleash a wave of innovation and job creation in clean energy and high-efficiency technologies.”

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