Last week the European Parliament’s Climate Change Committee held a meeting with a panel of experts from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, as well as representatives from the US, China and Japan. The debate was ahead of a UN meeting in Bali in December on a post-Kyoto future.
The Kyoto Protocol is an amendment to the international treaty on climate change, assigning compulsory emission limits so that greenhouse gas emissions are reduced. The aim of the protocol is the “stabilisation of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system”.
During the meeting, the theme mostly stressed upon by the main UN speakers was the need to see climate change as a current, rather than a future, problem. The UN delegates told MEP’s that to avoid catastrophic climate change temperature increases must not rise by more than two degrees. This would also mean reducing levels of emissions between 50 per cent (globally) and 85 per cent (for industrialised countries) below the 1990 level, by 2050.
Since 1991, the European Union has taken many climate-related initiatives, the first of these strategies being the Community strategy to limit carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions and improve energy efficiency. This plan included the promotion of electricity generated from renewable energy, as well as voluntary commitments by car manufacturers to reduce CO 2 emissions by 25 per cent.
However, this was not enough, and in this regard further steps were taken to succeed in cutting the EU member states greenhouse gas emissions to eight per cent below 1990 levels by 2008-2012, as required by the Kyoto protocol.
In June 2000, the Commission launched the European Climate Change Programme (ECCP). The goal of the ECCP is to identify and develop a platform for an EU strategy to implement the Kyoto Protocol. In this regard, the first ECCP involved stakeholders working together, including representatives from the Commission’s different departments (DGs), the member states, industry and environmental groups.
This was followed up with the second European Climate Change Programme (ECCP II), which was launched in October 2005. The new programme will explore further cost-effective options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, in synergy with the EU’s ‘Lisbon strategy’ for increasing economic growth and job creation.
A communication released last week by the commission, aims at assisting small and medium-sized enterprises to become greener. The commission is proposing to create a programme to help small and medium-sized companies implement European environmental legislation. The programme will channel financial resources towards support networks, simplify access to environmental management systems, and promote greater awareness of environmental issues among these companies.
European Commissioner Stavros Dimas said, “To successfully tackle the environmental challenges we face, and to achieve our targets on greenhouse emissions, renewable energy and energy efficiency, all European companies must be on board. Small and medium-sized companies are an integral part of Europe’s economy and it is therefore vital that they play their part in making the European economy more sustainable.”
Although individual SME’s employ less than 250 people, when one looks at the total number of SME’s all over the European Union, these amount to 23 million small businesses, which represent 99 per cent of all EU enterprises. Being accountable for such a large proportion of the EU economy’s turnover, the impact of SMEs on the environment is considerable.
The Environmental Compliance Assistance Programme proposed by the Commission, is a set of measures that aim to help SME’s minimise the environmental impact of their activities. Funding for the Programme’s measures will come from LIFE+ funds (EUR5 million for 2007-13), with additional funds to be made available through the Competitiveness and Innovation framework Programme (CIP) and the Structural Funds.
These funds will also be available to Maltese SME’s. Like the European Union’s trend, the local SME’s are very important to the local economy. Small businesses usually find it harder to meet the terms with environmental legislation than larger companies do. Nevertheless, if these companies do take action they will benefit from lower energy bills and greater efficiency in their operations.
In a case such as this, we can appreciate more our EU accession. When it comes to getting in line with the Kyoto Protocol and other measures concerning climate change the costs run high, but still must be implemented. Thanks to our accession to the EU, we may get funding not only as a country, but also as individual companies or organisations to enhance our effectiveness, and contributing towards a better environment for all.
Once again, this shows the importance of the consent given by the electorate to become an EU member state. A step that might not have occurred if the will of the Malta Labour Party got a better hand. In that case, we would have missed out on all the opportunities presented to improve our country and our society.
David Casa is a Nationalist MEP
www.davidcasa.eu
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