McCartney to attend EU parliament climate change conference

By Martin Banks - 19th October 2009

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Paul McCartney has confirmed that he will appear in parliament next month at a climate change hearing.

The former Beatle will be the star guest at a one-day hearing which will be held in Brussels the week before the UN summit on climate change in Copenhagen.

Edward McMillan-Scott, the MEP who has helped organised the event, said he was "absolutely delighted" that McCartney had agreed to attend.

"It is great news, absolutely fantastic," said McMillan-Scott, who is a vice president of parliament.

"His presence in parliament is sure to generate a lot of interest and is a feather in the cap for the assembly."

McCartney is expected to use the occasion to promote his call for people to go meat-free one day a week and, in doing so, cut carbon emissions.

He insists that the link between meat and climate change is indisputable and points to a UN study showing that the livestock industry was responsible for 18 per cent of man's global greenhouse gas emissions.

Meanwhile, a high-level conference in Brussels on Monday was told that environment ministers meeting in Copenhagen should take into account the potential role 'natural refrigerants', such as ammonia and hydrocarbons, can play in tackling climate change.

Didier Coulomb, director of the Paris-based International Institute of Refrigeration, told the meeting that natural refrigerants can be an effective solution and have the "true potential" to replace CFCs and HFCs altogether in certain cooling, refrigeration and heating applications.

"Some countries still think natural refrigerants are not safe or cost effective and, I agree, that is true in certain cases," he said.

"However, you could easily replace replace CFCs with ammonia today in the vast majority of appliances without any harmful effects.

"This even includes water which is actually being used in Stockholm for air conditioning."

He told the conference, attended by 150 experts from all over Europe, that despite their "proven efficiency" in a range of cooling and heating systems, the "potential" of natural refrigerants had not been utilised either for domestic or commercial use.

"Of course, it needs investment and financial incentives," he said, "but it is perfectly possible."

The Frenchman said that despite the "major barriers" that still exist for the uptake of natural refrigerants" he hoped their "true potential" would be taken into account at the Copenhagen summit.

The conference, called "Atmosphere 2009", was told that natural refrigerants had been used successfully in cooling, refrigeration and heating "before generations of ozone-depleting and high-global warming" CFS and HFCs entered the market.