EU Weakens Climate Deal To Keep UK, Poland On Board.
European Union leaders have agreed to a landmark deal to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the next 15 years.
The agreement, reached Oct. 24, calls for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. European Council chair Herman Van Rompuy called the deal the “world’s most ambitious, cost-effective, fair climate energy policy (ever) agreed.”
It also sets a target for the 28-member bloc to obtain 27 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030, as well as make a 27 percent improvement in energy efficiency over a business-as-usual scenario. EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the agreement puts the EU in the “driving seat” for next year’s international climate negotiations in Paris.
While the key targets sound ambitious, the specifics were watered down in order to gain the approval of several countries that were dragging their feet. In particular, the United Kingdom was not keen to see a deal that had too much teeth. That’s because of a small but vocal anti-EU minority party in the UK, known as the UK Independence Party (UKIP). Several members of the European Parliament (MEPs) said Britain has been “taken hostage” because of UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s fear of UKIP.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
