Nessa Childers, Labour Party MEP for Leinster/Ireland East has welcomed the new EU stance on climate talks.
She was speaking in the European Parliament in Strasbourg in reaction to the Commission’s proposals for shaping the international negotiation process in the run-up to the Cancun conference at the end of 2010.
Childers, Ireland’s only full member of the European Parliament Environment Committee said: “I welcome the new stance taken by the Commission on the possibility of moving to a 30 per cent target cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.
“The Commission now states it will propose moving to the higher target ‘if conditions are right’. This is a new stance which means that we will no longer be held hostage by the climate laggards in the US and China. It also signals that the new Climate Action Commissioner, Connie Hedegaard, is taking a more ambitious line.
“The Commissioner has said she will prepare an analysis of practical measures that would be required to implement a possible reduction of emissions up to 30%, including an analysis of contributions required by different sectors. In such a depressing period for all those who care about the international climate change talks, this is a welcome development.
“The EU leadership always insists that Europe leads by example on this issue, well it is now time to start proving it. I believe that reaching higher targets on emissions is now much more achievable than first thought. There is a clear economic win-win involved in pursuing higher targets too.
“Reductions in GHG emissions of 30 per cent or even higher would have a revolutionary impact on European economies. It would help create the dynamic and the demand needed to drive the development of the clean energy sector, leading to a massive increase in indigenous and sustainable green jobs.”