European leaders begin summit on climate today; Ebola is also on the agenda

By Omotunde Ayinde
 Lagos Nigeria

The European leaders begin a 2-day summit today in Brussels Belgium where they are expected to agree on a climate target. This target will seek to cut greenhouse gases emission by 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2030.  

The summit will also discuss the proposal for using renewable energy for 27 percent of their power needs and improving energy efficiency by 30 percent by 2030.

The European Council summit whose main objective is to reach an agreement on the new climate and energy policy framework for 2030 also has Ebola on the official agenda.

However a United Nations Climate expert has said the EU’s plan to cut CO2 emissions 40% by 2030is too weak.

Prof Jim Skea, vice-chair of the economics working group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) told BBC News that the EU’s 40% target for 2030 would not lead to the desired cut by the middle of the century.

The IPCC has said that the developed countries will have to cut the emissions by 80%-95% by 2050 in order to keep global warming below 2C.

Even despite this strong condemnation of the target for not being adequate, there is every indication that the 40% target will be rejected by most of the member states. The EUobserver suggests that they will call for much lower target.

  

Already Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz of Poland has said that the country will strongly oppose tough greenhouse gas emission targets.

“I want to come back to Warsaw from the EU summit and say that I succeeded in protecting electricity prices and that nothing has changed,” she told reporters during a joint briefing with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on October 9.

Ebola

Meanwhile, the European Commission has today, in a statement, announced €24.4 million from the EU budget for urgently needed Ebola research. The funding will go to five projects, ranging from a large-scale clinical trial of a potential vaccine, to testing existing and novel compounds to treat Ebola.

EU leaders are expected to appoint a coordinator on Ebola during the summit. The special Envoy is to coordinate future policy, both in Africa and in Europe.

Ebola has killed over 4,500 people, mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, but also   including two Spanish. 

Demonstrators make their way down Sixth Avenue in New York during the People’s Climate March, Sept. 21, 2014. The march, along with similar gatherings scheduled in other cities worldwide, comes two days before the United Nations Climate Summit. Jason DeCrow/AP

So far there has been no report of protest by climate activists at this summit. The only reported action is from Greenpeace who said it has positioned its Arctic Sunrise vessel off the coast of Spain to protest against the fossil fuels industry blamed for some of the negative impacts of climate change.

It should be recalled that between September 20 and 22 there were protests in at least 12 cities around the world including Lagos as the United Nations Summit on climate held in the United States. In New York City, over 300,000 people participated in the protest organized by People’s Climate March, the biggest so far in history.