Barroso: The EU—Ending Doubts about Energy and Climate Change

From a speech today by José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission:

"First, a global and comprehensive post-2012 agreement to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions must be concluded... Second, the EU must take the lead, by demonstrating that we can reduce our greenhouse gas emissions whilst strengthening our economic growth and by significantly stepping up cooperation with our partners around the world in developing and deploying new low-carbon technologies. Third, we need diversity in our energy policy; diversity of type of energy, of its geographical source, of its transit routes.

"Climate change and energy security are closely linked. Action on one very often benefits the other. Lower and cleaner energy use reduces both damaging greenhouse gas emissions, and our growing external dependence on gas and oil. On the other hand, there is no inevitable link between limiting greenhouse gas emissions and limiting growth. Europe has proved that. I am not saying action to fight climate change is free. It has costs. What I am saying is that the cost of action, of taking out a collective insurance policy, is small compared to the risks we face….

"Climate change requires a collective response, a 'grand bargain' [containing] several key elements: the use of market mechanisms, with connections between different markets; technology, including its transfer; public investment; research and development; trade policy and others….

"The G8 meeting in Heiligendamm [and other international events] represent important milestones on the way to that grand bargain. We will get there—I have no doubts about that—because the facts on the ground and our publics will force the issue if we do not move ourselves. But we must not fall into the trap of sitting and waiting for this grand bargain to happen by itself, and doing nothing in the meantime. We will get there by incremental steps, not a one-off transformation. And we have no time to waste."

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