subject: Environment minister urges EU to crack down on CO2 emissions [print this page] Environment minister urges EU to crack down on CO2 emissions
Liberal Democrat MP, Chris Huhne, told EU representatives that he wants to see a 30 per cent cut in carbon dioxide emissions across Europe by 2020. The EU had previously set a goal of reducing CO2 emissions by just 20 per cent.
It is thought that the higher target will result in more pressure on the UK to switch from non-renewable energies such as gas and coal to sustainable green' energy. Much of the extra electricity would be provided by offshore wind turbines, of which 7,000 have already been planned for the UK in the next ten years. Mr Huhne said: "The biggest challenge we face in the long term is tackling climate change and our economies are going to have to adjust.
"The problem with not going up to 30 per cent is that it makes it all the more risky that we will not be able to keep global temperature [rises] below the two degrees limit which scientists reckon to be the real danger point, at which we tip into really disastrous potential weather events".
Mr Huhne, who was appointed as the Coalition government's Energy and Climate Change Secretary last month, says he has been committed to the green agenda for more than thirty years. He believes that environmental policies should be combined with "hard-nosed economic analysis" to deliver both cheap and eco-friendly lifestyles.
He added: "Often the green agenda is put in such a way that you have to be hair-shirt; you can't enjoy yourself. This is just wrong". Environmentalists hope that Huhne will play an instrumental role in creating what Prime Minister David Cameron last month claimed will be "the greenest government ever".
For more Environment updates visit the Green News section of the GreenASAP website.
