Federal Environment Agency expects EU to do more to protect climate
Community should agree on 30-percent reduction
Following the UN Climate Conference in Cancun, the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) believes that greater efforts to protect the climate are both necessary and feasible in the European Union (EU). “The 20-percent GHG reduction target set to date is not an ambitious climate protection goal. Other EU members should follow the lead set by Germany’s ambitious goal of reducing emissions by 40 percent and seek to establish a 30-percent reduction for Europe,” said UBA President Jochen Flasbarth. In so doing, the EU could live up to the responsibility and role as driving force that it has assumed in the group of industrialised states and raise the bar on reduction commitments. “We are on the cusp of a crucial year of negotiations in climate protection. Cancun has provided opportunities that must be pursued aggressively. If the EU does not give clear signs that it is taking this new opportunity seriously, Europe will forfeit its chance to design and determine the future of climate protection,” continued Flasbarth.
