By Martin Banks - 10th February 2011
He was right to criticise climate sceptics because they are a real threat to civilisation
Claude Turmes
Top climate expert Nicholas Stern has called on the EU to help kick-start a "new industrial revolution" in energy efficiency.
Addressing a "low carbon" summit in parliament on Wednesday, the leading British academic said there was a "direct" link between what he called "low-carbon prosperity" and economic competitiveness and growth.
The British peer said, "Europe needs to focus more on this. We - and I mean all of us here today - needs to make the case for a low-carbon economy."
Stern, of the London School of Economics, said that member states should not use the recession as an "excuse" for failing to pursue measures that may have a long-term impact on tackling climate change.
"China is taking the lead on this and so must Europe," he said.
In his speech to the summit, parliament's president Jerzy Buzek reminded the event's keynote speaker – Britain's prince Charles - that when he was in last in parliament three years ago he told members that the "Doomsday clock of climate change is ticking".
Buzek said, "I can assure you that the EU has done a lot to slow this clock down.
"Our new EU 2020 strategy will help us create a green, low carbon economy by investments in innovation and new technologies.
"The European energy community which was proposed by parliament last May, and which we are building step by step, will not only reduce the costs, but also the use of electricity and gas.
"We will only achieve a low carbon economy if there is genuine cooperation between the public, the private and the non-governmental sectors. We politicians have to create the legal framework that you can operate in, while the business community has to continue being socially responsible."
Later, Luxembourg Green MEP Claude Turmes praised Charles' speech, saying, "He was right to criticise climate sceptics because they are a real threat to civilisation."
Meanwhile, UKIP leader Nigel Farage has criticised Charles who, during the half-day summit, called on the EU to do more to combat global warming.
Farage said, "Prince Charles received the rapturous applause of the three presidents of the EU who were obviously delighted to see him.
"José Manuel Barroso, Herman Van Rompuy and Jerzy Buzek now have a huge amount of power over the British people. It is not right for prince Charles to give these undemocratically elected leaders of the EU, support in any way.
"It is not something that we would expect from the heir to the constitutional monarchy. We would have hoped Charles as future sovereign of Great Britain would have defended the sovereignty of Westminster parliament. That certainly did not happen."
