By DPA
Copenhagen/Washington : Jacqueline McGlade, the European Union’s chief environment expert, believes Europe needs a Marshall plan of investment – up to several percentage points of the 27-member bloc’s gross domestic product (GDP) per year – to reduce the vulnerability to climate change.
Europe also must lead by example on global warming, especially in reducing the use of coal and encouraging action in the developing world, the head of the Copenhagen-based European Environment Agency (EEA) said.
Speaking ahead of the EU’s planned release this week of what she called a “very ambitious climate change and energy package”, McGlade said her agenda was to ensure that Europe was both united in its front on the environment and “doing its utmost” in the bloc’s own environmental policies.
With Europe already falling short of its robust targets to reduce carbon emissions, the EU Commission’s package would now “consolidate the targets and the way in which mitigation will go forward”, the expert said.
A major advance had been the agreement in December to include aviation emissions in the EU’s carbon trading scheme, she said.
But there was disagreement, especially in Germany, over the commission’s recent approval of strict limits on automotive carbon dioxide emissions.
McGlade is also bracing for a fight within Europe on coal – an issue she says is key to showing the way to booming China and India on emissions reductions. China for example was bringing a new coal plant online about every seven to 10 days.
“Europe must lead by example, with China and India hopefully following that guidance,” she said.
However, the bloc’s track record on the environment had been less than illustrious, she criticised. “While at the same time wanting to meet very ambitious targets, we have Britain announcing a whole new generation of coal plants,” said McGlade, a former environmental advisor to the British government.
“When confronted with the package… countries like Poland and Germany must be seriously rethinking what that means if they are going to try to meet these much more aggressive emission targets.”
“Ultimately, we will have to rethink the use of coal,” McGlade said.
Europe should need little convincing of the threats posed by global warming. The 2003 European heat wave was blamed for 35,000 deaths. Greece and Britain witnessed extreme fires and floods just this summer that cost billions of dollars.
McGlade proposed a “Marshall Plan” for Europe to adapt to climate change and reconstruct itself to “reduce vulnerability for the coming century”. More than just mitigation was needed in order to adapt to the effects of climate change, she said.
“It’s gradually dawning on everyone that it’s no good just building a flood defence a few feet higher,” she said. “It’s no good building new houses in areas where there will be drought.”
The EU expert said she was optimistic that adaptation and mitigation were within reach, because the international will to do so was strong.
She insisted it was up to Europe to present a common front in 2009 when the international community is due to meet in Copenhagen to mould environmental policies for the time after the 2012 expiry of the Kyoto Protocol.
McGlade declined to criticise the December Bali talks on climate change despite widespread dissatisfaction over the United States’ foot-dragging at the first major post-Kyoto discussions.
The talks were “very very successful” in launching the formal negotiations for 2009, she said.
McGalde said she was especially proud that for the first time at such an international gathering, European countries had presented a coordinated position and did not have to horse-trade behind the scenes. This gave them an especially strong presence, she felt.