Danish civil society debates EU climate proposals

The debate, co-organised with the European Commission representation in Denmark, was held at the premises of the EEA in Copenhagen on 30 January and presented the views of a wide spectrum of stakeholders, from the Confederation of Danish industries (DI) and environmental NGOs. Two representatives from the European Commission, Peter Gammeltoft (DG Environment) and Hans van Steen (DG Transport and Energy) shared the panel with Richard B. Larsen (DI), John Nordbo (WWF) and Ulrich Bang (Danish Energy Association). The debate was chaired by EEA's Programme Manager Jeff Huntington with an audience of 50 Danish participants.

There was appreciation of the effort the Commission is making to communicate the package to and debate it with a wide range of stakeholders across Europe, and recognition that putting the package together was an immense achievement by the Commission. On the substance, there was general support for more harmonisation across Member States, and a lively debate with different views on a range of topics including:

• Should the package not also have focused on a higher GHG emission reduction ambition level (– 30 % by 2020) as well as – 20 % since the EU at the Bali climate change conference made a strong plea for developed countries to reduce emissions by 25–40 %?
  
• Is the burden on Danish industry and consumers reasonable?
  
• Should Europe be restrictive in the use of Joint Implementation and Clean Development Mechanisms?
  
• How should the income from auctioning of emission allowances under the proposed EU ETS be best used?
  
• Are the costs for especially energy intensive industry not becoming too high leading to a loss of competitiveness compared to industry outside Europe?
  
• Should the goal of 20 % improvement in energy efficiency by 2020 not also be legally binding as the other targets?

For more information please see our recent highlight on the Climate action and renewable energy package.