By Chris Jones - 30th October 2006
European commission president José Manuel Barroso has called for immediate action following the publication of a damning UK report on the future of the planet.
The report, published by British economist Sir Nicholas Stern, urges governments to act now to tackle global warning - whatever the cost.
“The report makes a case for action,” Barroso said through his spokeswoman on Monday. “There is no option to wait and see.”
He added that the report showed that there were both costs and benefits from the fight against global warming.
The publication of the Stern report comes on the day that Barroso will unveil the broad outlines of a new energy package – planned for January – at a speech in Lisbon.
The package will focus on four main areas – energy efficiency, renewables, clean coal and nuclear power – and Barroso is hoping for an agreement on a new EU energy policy at a March meeting of EU leaders.
The commission president echoed earlier calls for action from British prime minister Tony Blair, who said that the report “demolished the last remaining argument for inaction” on climate change.
“It is not in doubt that if the science is right, the consequences for our planet are literally disastrous,” he said in London.
“Unless we act now, these consequences, disastrous as they are, will be irreversible.”
The report puts the cost of reversing climate change at around one per cent of global GDP – but warns that this figure could rise to as much as 20 per cent in the future if nothing is done immediately.
There is growing consensus that climate change can only be tackled at an international level, with Stern calling for concerted efforts from the global community to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
"Unless it's international, we will not make the reductions on the scale which will be required,” the former world bank economist told the BBC.
“What we have shown is the magnitude of these risks is very large and has to be taken into account in the kind of investments the world makes today and the consumption patterns it has.”
Barroso said that the EU had always led the way on efforts to tackle climate change, citing the European emissions trading scheme which covers 40 per cent of the EU’s CO2 emissions.
But UK finance minister Gordon Brown, who commissioned the Stern report, called for even tougher action at the EU level, with the aim of reducing emissions by 30 per cent by 2020, and at least 60 per cent by 2050.
Brown also set out proposals that would see five per cent of all UK vehicles run on biofuels by the end of the decade
And British environment minister David Milliband suggested over the weekend that the EU countries should consider taxing airline fuel in a bid to slow the growth in the number of short-haul, low-cost airlines.
He also suggested that ‘gas-guzzling’ cars should be subject to higher road taxes.
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