euractiv.com/fr: Résoudre la crise climatique par une coopération renforcée[en]

Publié: mercredi 9 mai 2007

Les représentants d’industries et d’ONG se sont rencontrés lors d’une conférence organisée par Shell à Bruxelles portant sur le rôle de l’industrie dans la crise climatique. Ils ont largement convenu qu’un cadre réglementaire stable était nécessaire à une politique efficace de lutte contre le changement climatique.

Oil major Shell International hosted a conference in Brussels on 8 May with the title ‘Is climate change preventable? The role of industry and governments’.

Enjeux:

The debate focused in particular on the interaction between governmental action and industry efforts to deal with the climate-change issue. All speakers agreed that a market-based approach is the best and most cost-effective solution to the climate challenge and that governments have to set the correct stable framework for industries to make investment decisions.

Energy efficiency, promotion of renewables and responsible use of fossil fuels were put forward as the most promising solutions to cut global greenhouse gas emissions.

Positions:

Shell’s ‘Mr CO2’ Graeme Sweeney opened the debate by reminding the audience that by 2050 the world’s energy demand will have doubled. “One third of that demand can be fulfilled with renewables,”,said the Shell Renewables vice-president, while other contributions will have to come from energy efficiency and fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage. He furthermore underlined the need for a stable regulatory framework and the correct economic incentives.

Greenpeace energy policy campaigner Mark Johnstone refered to his organisation’s Energy Revolution Scenario  (published in 2005) which claims that CO2 emissions could be halved by 2050 using clean technologies (not including nuclear power).  Energy Revolution Scenario

The EU’s efforts to fight climate change were presented by Commission Climate Change Director Jos Delbeke, who also underlined that during recent years he has seen remarkable progress in China on climate-change thinking. “There is no place in the world where I saw so many energy-saving lightbulbs”, said Delbeke. He warned of “picking winners” but said that the “EU needs to put incentives in place” so that business can develop the right solutions. The Commission director also defended the EU’s emissions-trading scheme (ETS), pointing to the fact that many American experts are now trying to learn from the European carbon-trading experiment.

German MEP Peter Liese reminded the audience that “the average EU citizen emits three times more CO2 than a Chinese citizen” and said that he could see the need for a “per capita budget for every world citizen in the long run”. Liese also drew attention to the need for more use of renewables in the heating and cooling sector but also for keeping nuclear power production open for a longer period. As to international co-operation, Liese stated that the EU should “not be too defensive” refering to the Commission proposal on including aviation in the ETS and its option to include transatlantic flights later.

Hermann Meyer, head of the EU office of Volkswagen, focused the debate on the efforts demanded from the car industry. He defended, as expected, the “integrated approach”, which goes beyond the emission-reduction target of 120grammes per kilometre to include measures such as labelling (to steer consumer demand), improved traffic planning and the promotion of eco-driving.

The ensuing debate saw interventions and questions on the use of biofuels (competition with food), coal subsidies, carbon capture and storage and the link between climate change and the growing world population.

In her concluding remarks, Roxanne Decyck, corporate affairs director of Shell International, highlighted the need for more co-operation between industries (energy and carmakers), governments and NGOs to solve the climate-change challenge.

Liens

Documents officiels de l’UE

http://www.euractiv.com/fr/changement-climatique/resoudre-crise-climatique-cooperation-renforcee/article-163638

• Commission: Energy for a changing world

• Shell: Sustainability report 2006
• Shell: Global scenarios to 2025 – executive summary
• Greenpeace: Energy Revolution: a sustainable pathway to a clean energy future for Europe
• Friends of the Earth: Press release “Shell’s misleading ad: complaint submitted” , (8 May 2007)

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