The European Union put climate change at the heart of a broad new energy policy on Wednesday as it moved to boost renewable fuels, cut consumption and curb its dependence on foreign suppliers of oil and gas.
With oil imports hit by the latest energy dispute involving Russia, Brussels laid out a vision of a common energy policy for the 27-nation bloc, with proposals including a recommendation to scale back the dominance of energy companies.
Energy has been at the heart of the EU since it was born as the European Coal and Steel Community half a century ago but policy remains largely in the hands of national governments.
”Climate change is among the gravest environmental, social and economic challenges facing mankind, and it is already happening,” the commission said in a statement on its website.
”Urgent action is needed to limit climate change to a manageable level and prevent serious physical and economic damage,” the statement said.
This week’s dispute between Russia and Belarus, which has hit oil exports to several EU nations, has also highlighted the bloc’s vulnerability to foreign producers of fuel.
The fight against global warming featured strongly in the plan announced by the commission and which will also require approval by EU governments.
The EU executive called on the 27-nation EU to cut its emissions of greenhouse gases by at least 20% by 2020, compared with 1990 levels.
That goes beyond an existing target for an 8% cut in emissions from 1990 levels in the 2008 to 2012 period adopted by the 15 members of the EU before its 2004 enlargement, and which several countries are already struggling to meet.
Brussels also challenged developed nations around the world, including the EU, to cut emissions by 30% by 2020.
The EU has repeatedly said the United States — the world’s biggest polluter — and other major economies will have to join in to make the fight against climate change successful.
Environmentalists criticised the commission for setting an internal target below the one it seeks for the world as a whole. — Reuters