In May, the European Parliament discussed quite a few climate change-related issues, presented and voted on new reports, and backed some positive initiatives.

Report on scientific facts of Climate Change

On 21 May, the European Parliament (EP) Temporary Committee on Climate Change (CLIM) presented its report on the “Scientific facts of Climate Change - findings and recommendations for decision-making” in Strasbourg. The report illustrates the EP’s ambition towards the 2 degrees target and condemns current mitigation efforts to reduce global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as insufficient.

The rapporteur Karl-Heinz Florenz said: "The climate change problem is both a challenge and an opportunity (to develop new technologies, create new jobs), we need a third industrial revolution and additional studies to dispel any remaining doubts. In the future we need to be able to do twice as much with a litre of fuel than we do now; we have to increase energy efficiency. Now comes the difficult part: addressing the facts mentioned in this report."

The report “emphasises that the window of opportunity for starting the mitigation efforts needed to achieve the 2°C target will close by the middle of the next decade,” and states “the risk of serious impact on our planet if measures are not taken swiftly” to reduce (GHG) emissions.

The draft report will be followed by a final report released by the Temporary Committee on Climate Change at the end of its mandate (extended to July 2009) that will contain recommendations on the EU’s future integrated policy on climate change and reflect the EP’s position in post-2012 debates.

Climate Action and Renewable Energy Package

In May 2008 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) held their first formal exchange of views on the Climate Action and Renewable Energy Package. During the debate several areas of contention emerged regarding plans to review the EU emissions trading scheme (EU ETS) from 2013 and to share out the effort (non ETS sectors) of cutting overall EU greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent by 2020.

Controversy surrounded whether the EU ETS should be extended to forestry and what access the EU should have to international carbon credits generated by emission reduction projects under the Kyoto protocol’s Clean Development Mechanisms (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI) mechanisms.

Several MEPs are calling for the inclusion of a more rapid enforcement mechanism, such as fines; to specify post-2020 emission reduction goals; and asking for limits on access to credits for CDM and JI for the non-ETS sector to ensure that the EU does not outsource its emission reductions.

The latter would likely yield co-benefits to health for EU citizens through a reduction in air, noise, and chemical pollution as our dependence on fossil fuel combustion currently produces a mixture of harmful chemicals including carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter (PM), NOx and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs).

Report on carbon dioxide emissions from new cars

On Wednesday 28 May 2008 the draft report on "Emission performance standards for new passenger cars", tabled by rapporteur Guido Sacconi was debated in the EP’s Environment Committee.

The EU proposals is for an overall target of reducing carbon dioxide emissions from cars sold in Europe to an average of 120 grams per kilometre by 2012. The current average across manufacturers is 160g/km.

In the debate Rapporteur Guido Sacconi resisted pressure for the full introduction of the 120 grams per kilometre (g/km) target to be delayed by three years. Instead Mr. Sacconi supported amendments to ensure the introduction of a long-term target for cutting new-car emissions. The aim is that this target should not exceed 95 g/km by 2020, but a review in 2014 could set an even tighter target.

European Parliament backs early start for airline carbon trading

In May 2008 MEPs voted overwhelmingly to include aviation in Europe’s emissions trading scheme (ETS) a year earlier than planned. The European parliament’s environment committee said airlines should be covered by the ETS from 2011 rather than 2012 as proposed by the European commission and the 27 national governments.