No backsliding on EU climate change action

Whatever happens with the current referendum debate, the UK is certainly not leaving the European Union in the next few years. And as Greenpeace and many others have pointed out, in reality it is likely that we only have a decade or so to take the necessary action to stop global warming before catastrophic consequences will inevitably result further down the line. As a cross-national body with appropriate legal powers, the EU will need to play a key role in climate change measures.

The Climate Change Act 2008 was one of the last Labour Government’s finest achievements. As Ed Miliband said when he was Climate Secretary in 2009, those who deny that climate change is not the fault of human action and we will essentially just adapt to it over time are ‘profoundly irresponsible’. Labour put in place the world’s first long-term legally binding emissions targets and we should remain rightly proud of that.

We have also kept up the pressure since then taking the lead on calling for decarbonisation of the power sector, prioritising green investment policies, and promoting wind energy. Many Labour-run local authorities have also been leading the way on recycling and environmentally-friendly transport and planning policies.

There is however a big question now as to what polices we should promote at an EU level going forward, and now is definitely the time for further priority to be given to this issue. The current European Commission consultation on energy and climate change policy to 2030 ends on July 2nd and asks some of the right questions, especially around increasing renewable energy sources.

But next week, the European Council will be discussing energy policy in the context of jobs and growth. This is all well and good, but it is clear that the discussion is being driven more strongly than ever by a movement by the business lobby to water down climate change mitigation measures as part of EU energy policy. The recent failure to strengthen the EU Emissions Trading Scheme is one example of their success.

And despite the safety issues and health risks exposed in the US, the EU Commission is generally supportive of the move towards shale gas extraction. In addition to the geological disruption risks of so-called ‘fracking’ processes for extracting shale gas, according to Friends of the Earth thousands of US citizens have suffered air and water pollution from ‘fracking’ and been left with serious health problems including cancer. If a ban is not feasible, the EU could nevertheless play a vital role in ensuring that a strict regulatory framework is in place before ‘fracking’ is further developed.

The EU on its own cannot solve the problem of global warming, but is still an extremely important actor on the international stage, in the run-up especially to the aim of agreeing comprehensive international action through the United Nations in 2015. And the target-driven model on tackling climate change has its limitations. Many within the Labour Party have argued for a low carbon approach to be considered and implemented systematically across all policy areas, and that would be also be a good methodology for the EU to adopt.

Lucy Anderson is a London regional representative on the National Policy Forum