European Parliament, Brussels, 4th October 2006 – Members of the European Parliament’s Environment Committee made personal pledges and demands on climate change today as part of a Friends of the Earth Europe photo-action [1]. The action took place shortly before the MEPs voted to recommend a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by eighty percent by 2050 and to recommend that negotiations on the next Kyoto period should be finalized by 2008 [2].
Esther Bollendorff, Climate campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe said:
“The Environment Committee in the European Parliament has recommended that the EU should set a target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by eighty percent by 2050. The Council and national governments now have to follow this recommendation, and then must deliver real mechanisms to reduce emissions. We need an energy shift – away from coal, oil and nuclear to energy efficiency and renewables.”
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The visual event today involved MEPs making “Climate Deals”. Each MEP was asked to make a personal pledge to fight climate change, either by altering their lifestyle or using their own political power. In return, they demanded real policy change by national governments to cut greenhouse gas emissions [3]. The MEPs wrote their “Climate Deals” on big coloured wooden speech bubbles and were then photographed holding them.
Examples of “Climate Deals” by MEPs today included:
“I will vote in favour of an eighty percent emissions reduction target by 2050. In return, I expect governments to finalise post-Kyoto negotiations by 2008,” Claude Turmes, Luxembourgish Green/European Free Alliance MEP
“I will only buy cars that emit less than 120 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre. In return, I insist that the European Commission introduces binding legislation that forces car manufacturers to reduce carbon dioxide emissions on new cars to 150 g/km by 2008 and 120 g/km by 2012,” Chris Davies, UK ALDE MEP
Friends of the Earth Europe has been out on the streets this summer, encouraging thousands of citizens across Europe to make “Climate Deals”. The message of the campaign has been that the world will only win the fight against climate change with an input from both individuals and governments [4].
Mrs Dorette CORBEY, Netherlands, PES “I bicycle as much as possible. I buy solar panel and I work in the Parliament 1/3 of my time and energy to combat climate change”. |
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NOTES :
[1] For photos of the MEPs at the action today, see:
http://www.foeeurope.org/press/2006/JK_04_Oct_Climate_Deal_EP.htm
[2] Today, the Environment Committee voted its resolution on the EU strategy for the Nairobi Conference on climate change (COP12), which is taking place in Kenya in November 2006. The main topic of the conference will be to discuss the future of the climate regime once the first Kyoto commitment period ends in 2012.
Exact text of the resolution and amendments adopted are available from Friends of the Earth Europe.
The resolution text agreed by the Environment Committee today will now be voted on by the full plenary of 732 MEPs later in October.
[3] http://www.foeeurope.org/climatedeal/ClimateDeal_handout_041006.pdf