1999–2003: Member (elected) of the European Parliament representing the European People's Party Group. As Member of the European Parliament (MEP), Jorge became a key negotiator and legislator on climate change, energy, environment and science. From 1999 to 2003, Jorge Moreira da Silva was the standing rapporteur on climate change, responsible for producing the European Parliament legislation on climate change. Jorge gained particular recognition for his work as rapporteur on EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). He started leading the European Parliament work on the emissions trading from the very beginning as rapporteur of the Green Paper on the Emissions Trading Scheme in 2000. In July 2003, Jorge Moreira da Silva achieved a political agreement (through a second reading agreement) on the EU Emissions Trading Directive between the European Parliament, the European Council and the European Commission. From 1999 to 2003, Jorge also chaired the European Parliament Delegations to UNFCCC – United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change high-level meetings held in The Hague (COP6), Bonn (COP6)and Marraquech (COP7), the bilateral negotiations on the Kyoto Protocol, and to the Earth Summit 2002 – (World Sustainable Development Summit) held in 2002 in Johannesburg.