Collective efforts

In times of economic crisis - more than ever - we need to look for new markets, new areas of expertise and new ways to go ahead.

We need to make sure that we don’t move away from our climate goals, however, and we need to make sure that we find the right instruments, the right way and how to achieve them. What we need now is “innovation instead of depression”.

My report, ‘2050: The future begins today - recommendations for the EU’s future integrated policy on climate change’, is mirroring these considerations.

The report deals with our utilisation of energy, raw materials and natural habitats, an issue which is, along with climate change, a key question of the 21st century.

Not since the Club of Rome’s 1972 report on the “limits to growth” do we realise that the increase in prices for commodities will, to an ever greater extent, influence political actions. Currently, about 25 per cent of the global population use about 80 per cent of its energy reserves.

At the same time, industrialised countries are aware of the fact that they cannot deny the rest of the world their legitimate right to develop and to live a life in prosperity. The asymmetry between favoured and disadvantaged countries grows. This cannot be compatible with our tradition of solidarity and compensation.

The key to overcoming this dilemma can only lie in using the resources still available much more efficiently and in a more sustainable way. Bringing about this efficiency, and also greater use of renewable resources, are further challenges.

It is not the politicians or treaties setting the targets and deadlines in this respect. It is our planet. Still, a fast and easy solution is not to be seen, we always need to take into account all affected sectors and think of a set of measures rather than “the solution”.

The climate change committee’s report therefore tries to summarize, to put together in a concise manner and to propose possible paths of development.

If Europe is able to take the lead in combating climate change, this first-mover-advantage could prove a real motor for economic development, and thousands of jobs could be created.

We have to change, not only because our earth is heating up, but also because our economy needs “new input”, as the financial crisis tells us every day. Furthermore, through learning how to produce goods and energy in a more efficient way, we will become less dependent on oil and other fossil fuels which continue to be ever more expensive.

The report is a collection of facts based on science, not wishful thinking and it is not about who is to be blamed for climate change. It is based on fundamental principles. One of these political guidelines is the solidarity guiding all member states of the EU. In the discussion, we have often noticed that despite minor political differences, all colleagues share this opinion: We are in this together.

What President Barroso said so rightly about the financial crisis is true as well for our fight against climate change: We can swim together or we can drown together. We have decided to swim.

And, to use this image once again, if there are countries that cannot yet swim, we will help them in learning how to do so. This report is not about imposing or teaching, it is about helping, about supporting.

Since the climate report will be voted in committee before the UN climate change conference in Poznan, we plan to use it as the European parliament’s “visiting card”, so that our counterparts in this conference can be sure of our opinions on climate change, how we see our responsibility and also what we judge to be a possible way of proceeding.

We would like to get to know their opinion on this report and plan to amend it, in the light of the COP’s outcome, for the final vote in plenary in February.

However, what we are sure of already today is that the two sides of the medal, both the crisis as well as the chance of new technologies arising through this challenge, will be at the centre of this conference paving the way for Copenhagen and a new global climate change agreement.