EUROPEAN Union leaders agreed on Friday, what they hailed as the world’s most ambitious climate change targets for 2030, paving the way for a new UN-backed global treaty next year. The 28 leaders overcame deep divisions at a summit in Brussels to reach a deal including a commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 percent compared to 1990 level. They also agreed on a 27 percent target for renewable energy supply and efficiency gains, in spite of reservations from some member states about the cost of the measures.
“Deal! At least 40 percent emissions cut by 2030. World’s most ambitious, cost-effective, fair EU 2030 climate energy policy agreed,” EU president Herman Van Rompuy tweeted. The EU wanted to agree on the targets ahead of a summit in Paris in November and December 2015, where it is hoped the world will agree to a new phase of the Kyoto climate accord which run until 2020. The agreement puts the EU “in the driving seat” ahead of the Paris Conference, European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso said.
Environmental groups complained that the deal did not go far enough to cut global warming. While targets seem very nice and make for great propaganda — the reality is it will be very difficult for the poorer EU nations to keep to their targets as they are used to getting cheap energy from Russia. They will need substantial financial support from the EU as the reduction targets will make for unpopular policy — their constituents would not support it. At this point it is difficult to predict what the volume of subsidies. Surely, it would amount to billions and the giving of such subsidies would not be popular among the constituents of the advanced EU nations.
The main problem is, of course, that Europe does not have access to substantial renewable resources with the exception of wind power – solar power is limited to a few states like Greece and Italy while hydropower is also limited. The only clear solution is nuclear power which is, however, not liked by the people of Western Europe as an acceptable power source as it has a negative stigma attached to it. Unfortunately, the cost of renewable energy may also be too much for the average citizen of these regions to stomach as it would prove to be substantially more expensive to both nuclear power and the dirty energy produced by coal and oil.
It is our prediction that the targets and rhetoric set by the EU leaders will be a tough act to follow as their constituents will definitely grumble about the high costs of renewable energy. Whether the governments of the individual nations will actually achieve these targets will largely depend on whether the economies of the region grow at a smooth pace between now and 2030 — if it does, people may reluctantly accept the high cost of keeping their environment clean.
