In the early hours of Friday morning, EU leaders in Brussels agreed three targets for carbon reductions in 2030. However, the Environmental Pillar are concerned at the low levels of these targets which see a 40% reduction in greenhouse gases, 27% increase in renewable energy and a 27% increase in energy efficiency over 1990 levels.
European leaders allowed a concession for Ireland as meeting these targets were declared “unreachable” due to Ireland’s stated dependence on agriculture.
Similarly, Poland, who obtain 90% of their energy from coal have strongly opposed these targets. As a result, mechanisms to support investments in “energy modernisation and energy efficiency” have been added to the agreement, providing the country with no challenges in meeting the targets.
President Juncker and his team expressed their wish to have Europe as an international leader in renewable energy. However, the Environmental Pillar believe that achieving this is unlikely with the current targets and more profound emphasis should have been put on Europe’s growing renewables sector.
“These levels are neither ambitious nor challenging enough for EU states.They will slow down the effort to convert to renewable energy sources, and will continue our addiction to fossil fuel use,” says Cillian Lohan of the Environmental Pillar.
Response to EU Climate Targets 2030
“We have decided to place the burden of dealing with Climate Change on the next generation. Children that have just started school this year will be expected to pay for our continuing failure to deal with climate change.”
