Climate change package 'fully compatible' with growth

EU plans to reduce CO2 emissions are “fully compatible” with economic growth and job creation, insists environment commissioner Stavros Dimas.

Some senior industry figures have voiced concern about the possible impact the commission’s newly-launched emission reduction targets may have on Europe’s competitiveness and labour market.

But, speaking in Brussels on Thursday, Dimas said he believes the two goals - efforts to tackle climate change and growth - go hand-in-hand.

“Our efforts to reduce CO2 emissions are fully compatible with the continued efforts to improve economic growth.

“Indeed, I believe that such a commitment can actually boost Europe’s competitiveness.”

Dimas told an audience of MEPs, lobbyists, think tank representatives and journalists, that the EU’s climate change package presented a “serious challenge” to member states.

Under the plans, unveiled last month, the commission wants the EU to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent compared with the 2005 figure by 2020.

The Greek official was outlining his vision to combat climate change at a breakfast briefing, organised by the Brussels-based European Policy Centre.

Meanwhile, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke was in Brussels on Wednesday to launch “The Big Ask” a Friends of Europe campaign urging the EU to enforce its climate change targets.

He said, “If we start on this now, there won’t be the sort of rationing we had in the war because we will have time to develop the policies we need.”

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