MEPs vote on scientific data on climate change
The European Parliament's Temporary Committee on Climate Change (CLIM) on 1 April adopted its interim report examining the scientific data on climate change. In the non-binding own-initiative report, which will be put to a plenary vote Strasbourg in May, MEPs criticised current mitigation efforts as being 'insufficient to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions over the next decades'. 'Nearly all Member States are making good or even excellent progress in their effort to comply with their individual EU burden-sharing targets, thus raising the likelihood that the EU will reach its Kyoto target by 2012,' the report states. After 2012, however, Member States will have to do more if they want to achieve the target of reducing emissions by between 60% and 80% by 2050, compared to 1990. Scientific evidence clearly shows that the underlying cause of global warming is man-made, the committee members agree. For this reason, the MEPs condemn 'scientifically unsubstantiated efforts to portray the results of studies into the causes and effects of climate change as doubtful', although they recognise that scientific progress has always been marked by uncertainties. 'The communication of scientific evidence of human impact on the global climate has to be the major part of a broader attempt to gain public support for political measures to curb carbon emissions,' says rapporteur Karl-Heinz Florenz of the Christian Democrats in his explanatory statement. 'Individual changes in lifestyle patterns are necessary and should be a part of educational attempts of communicating causes and effects of global warming, but cannot be prescribed through political decisions.' In line with concerns raised about biofuels lately, MEPs also call for 'additional research into the impact of the policy promoting biofuels and their effects on the increase of deforestation, the expansion of cultivated land and world food supplies.' The adoption of the report comes only days after the committee held its Sixth Thematic Session on 'Engaging other actors: climate change, adaptation in third countries and global security'. There, Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had urged the EU to lead by example. 'Be the change you want to see in the world,' he said, quoting Mahatma Gandhi. He also stressed that climate change was only part of a greater problem, 'that of unsustainable development'. The temporary committee's term of office was initially scheduled to end in May 2008. However, its mandate has recently been extended until February 2009, recognising the importance of the issue. The committee's final report has been postponed until then. While the interim report focuses on scientific aspects, the final paper will include recommendations on future EU climate change policy, on adaptation and mitigation measures and the Parliament's position in international negotiations for a post-2012 climate change framework.