© European Community 2007
riduzione dei gas a effetto serra, il miglioramento dell’efficienza energetica, lo sviluppo di fonti di energia sostenibili e azioni per contrastare la scarsità di energia. Abbiamo una responsabilità collettiva nei confronti di tutti i nostri concittadini per preparare le basi a un futuro migliore. Il mercato e le tecnologie da sole non risolveranno tutti i nostri problemi. Se vogliamo invertire le attuali tendenze abbiamo bisogno di politiche forti e una reale volontà. L’industria, come sempre, non è una soluzione; ci vuole l’azione. La nostra nuova Politica Energetica per l’Europa è la risposta dell’Unione europea: una risposta ambiziosa, un piano d’azione per contrastare la minaccia dei cambiamenti climatici e del riscaldamento globale. Potrebbe essere considerata come l’inizio di una nuova rivoluzione industriale nell’uso dell’energia nei paesi dell’Unione europea.
* Andris Piebalgs ha assunto il ruolo di commissario per l’Energia nel novembre 2004. Dall’allargamento della Ue del 1° maggio 2004, quando i commissari dei nuovi stati membri sono entrati a far parte della Commissione europea, ha diretto il Gabinetto del commissario lettone Sandra Kalniete. Prima di entrare a far parte della Commissione europea, ha lavorato in ambiente diplomatico per quasi dieci anni, prima come ambasciatore lettone in Estonia e poi come ambasciatore lettone presso l’Unione europea, fino al 2003. Successivamente è stato sottosegretario di stato per gli Affari Europei presso il Ministero lettone degli Affari Esteri. In Lettonia Piebalgs è stato ministro dell’Istruzione dal 1990 al 1993 e ministro delle Finanze dal 1994 al 1995.
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hese are challenging times for the world’s energy sector and for mankind. Demand for energy is set to increase by more than 50% by 2030, the global population is expected to grow from 6.6 billion to more than 9 billion people. If business continues as usual, this dramatic increase in energy demand will pose a threat to the global economy and to the climate, since increased energy consumption will be accompanied by a rise in CO2 emissions. By 2030, CO2 emissions would have increased by 110%. Climate change is already visible to us all. Evidence about its reality is overwhelming and the scientific community unanimous. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UN-IPCC) has issued strong messages. It is becoming increasingly clear that without real and effective action, the impact on our environment, our economy, and our way of life will be tremendous. Climate change is already at the top of the political agenda in most developed countries, yet its effects are felt first of all by the world’s poorest nations. We have to realize that we have only a brief window of opportunity to deal with this problem. If the world waits a decade or more, it will be too late. We will have left our children and grandchildren the legacy of climate change and by that time there will be absolutely nothing they can do about it. We are turning a corner, and the signs are that the world will act together to meet this challenge. We can only hope
that the action is not too little nor too late. But I believe that we will succeed, for a reason perhaps best expressed by Jeffrey Sachs, the Director of the Earth Institute of Columbia University, in a recent series of lectures. He points out that in the 1990s the world dealt with a similar problem—chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, which were destroying the Earth’s ozone layer—through international cooperation. As Sachs observes, arriving at action to deal with CFCs was a five-stage process. First, science identified the problem. Second, the vested interests—the makers of CFCs and aerosols in this case—publicly and actively disputed the scientists. But nature, the laws of physics, has a way of overcoming vested interests. In the case of CFCs, it was the NASA photo of the hole in the ozone layer. So the third stage was public acceptance—the realization that the problem was a personal one that would affect the lives of our own children and grandchildren. This fuelled a call for action. Then came the scientists, searching for solutions. And finally, the crucial stage, when the previously skeptical companies whispered to the politicians, “it’s OK, you can reach an agreement, we can handle this”. And from there, an international agreement was quickly reached. The climate change debate is following the same path. Although global warming was first identified in 1896, only recently—after hurricanes,
glaciers melting in front of our eyes and statistically meaningful and worrying increases in average temperatures—has it been accepted by the global community. And it is now beginning to be widely understood that climate change is, indeed, a personal issue. So, after the initially skeptical response to science, fuelled by vested interests, public acceptance about the need to act is now spreading, right across the globe. Science has followed and I believe that we are entering the final phase when business is beginning to whisper in the ears of the politicians, “it’s OK, you can reach an agreement, we can handle this”. The European Union is resolved to take its responsibility in the struggle against global warming seriously. Given that it is one of the world’s largest energy consumers and a major emitter of greenhouse gases, the need for a new European Energy Policy to meet these challenges is self-evident. The EU adopted a comprehensive action plan to steer a new energy policy for Europe. It aims to ensure the sustainability of the energy we use, the security of supply and the competitiveness of the economy. We have embarked on the widest ranging reform of Europe’s energy policy ever attempted, a reform that will bring a fundamental change of direction. The point of departure is a strategic objective: redirecting our energy policy to enable the EU to achieve a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, compared to 1990 levels. This means transforming Europe into a highly energy efficient and low CO2 energy economy, which is nothing less than a new industrial revolution in the European energy policy. These are the steps the Commission prescribes.
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