Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on Limiting Global Climate Change to 2 degrees Celsius and The inclusion of aviation in the emission trading system
Date: 2007-10-10
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: EU environmental policy, air transport, climate change, energy policy, reduction of gas emissions, tradeable emission permit

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 305/15

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on ‘Limiting Global Climate Change to 2 degrees Celsius’
and ‘The inclusion of aviation in the emission trading system’

(2007/C 305/04)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

— urges the Commission to increase its efforts at the highest political level to boost the international
coalition against climate change since climate change can only be tackled if all (major) countries
contribute;

— takes the view that Member States which have only limited possibilities to produce energy from
renewable sources should be given the option of achieving their target on renewable energy through
trade, either within an EU-wide green-energy certificate system, or through bilateral contracts with
other States which have a more abundant supply of renewable energy. The aim here is to reduce the
overall costs of meeting the targets on renewable energy;

— recommends the provision of further resources and measures, in addition to the use of European
Structural Funds, as useful means to assist with adaptation policy and with measures directed at miti-
gation, such as energy saving and renewable energy, to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases;

— stresses the importance of regional flexibility in achieving the efficiency and renewable energy targets,
given that regional flexibility reduces the overall cost of climate policy. However, these targets should
be obligatory at EU level;

— agrees with the Commission that aviation should be included in the ETS because this industry is a
rapidly growing source of greenhouse gases, and urges the Commission to take all the effects that this
industry has on climate change into account;

— will encourage the development of a permanent network of ambitious local and regional authorities
that are keen to enhance information exchange and create a platform for the development of new
ideas to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions cost-effectively.

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Official Journal of the European Union

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Reference documents

Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic
and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions ‘Limiting Global Climate Change to 2 degrees
Celsius — The way ahead for 2020 and beyond’

COM(2007) 2

Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2003/87/EC
so as to include aviation activities in the scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within
the Community

COM(2006) 818 final — 2006/0304 (COD)

Rapporteur: Ms Lenie DWARSHUIS-VAN DE BEEK, Member of the Executive Council of the Province

of South Holland (NL/ALDE)

Policy recommendations

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

1.
considers a sound environment to be a basic pre-condition
for human activity and believes, therefore, that protecting the
environment is of vital importance to human wellbeing;

believes that a well-conceived environmental and climate

2.
policy certainly contributes to economic development;

Regarding the assessment of the threat posed by climate change

takes the view that the threat of advanced climate change,
3.
which is caused by greenhouse gas emissions,
is a pressing
problem which should be tackled with the utmost determin-
ation, first and foremost by the current generation;

4.
agrees with the assessment that climate change will have a
significant impact on human wellbeing, for example victims of
heat stress, health problems, damage to biodiversity, reduced
agricultural productivity in several regions, reduced tourism
opportunities, as well as damage caused by higher sea levels and
extreme weather conditions, which could cause massive environ-
mental migrations towards the closest developed regions;

5.
believes that climate policy will also have numerous posi-
tive side effects, since it will also improve air quality (due to
lower emissions from SO2, PM and NOx), security of energy
supply (due to reduced dependence on imports of fossil fuels)
and soil fertility (due to lower loss of organic matter);

reduce the release of other gases that impact on the climate,
such as nitrous oxide, methane, etc. This is not just a matter of
maintaining storage capacity, but above all of using it. If it is to
have a positive impact on the CO2 balance, as well as bringing
other advantages such as increasing soil fertility and water reten-
tion, the soil must fulfil its current role as a carbon pool. The
use of compost as part of land management and the regional
recovery of organic matter via compost and crop residues are
important aims for improving the CO2 balance;

Regarding the international dimension of climate policy

8.
urges the Commission to increase its efforts at the highest
political level to boost the international coalition against climate
change since climate change can only be tackled if all (major)
countries contribute;

calls on the Commission to submit a road map for
9.
relevant climate-change initiatives and a clear strategy for local
and regional authority involvement, to be implemented in the
run-up to the UN climate summit in Copenhagen in 2009;

Regarding the regional dimension of climate change as well as climate
policy

10.
acknowledges that European regions' vulnerability to
climate change varies greatly, mainly because of differences in
natural conditions and population density;

6.
fully agrees with the Commission that the cost of policy
measures to reduce climate change will be significantly lower
than the estimated costs of climate change and that, therefore,
climate policy is a very efficient policy;

11.
also acknowledges that the availability of cost-effective
options to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions varies greatly from
region to region, mainly because of differences in natural condi-
tions and economic structure;

7.
supports the statements in the Kyoto Protocol on the
significance of agricultural soils as carbon pools. Increasing the
organic carbon content and storing organic substances in the
soil thus makes a significant contribution to countries' CO2
balance. Land management aimed at protecting the soil can also

12.
regrets, therefore, that the Commission is not paying
more attention to the regional distribution of both the costs of
inaction and the benefits of action, and urges the Commission
to conduct an in-depth analysis of the regional dimension of
the costs and benefits of climate change and climate policy;

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further

recommends the provision of

13.
resources and
measures, in addition to the use of European Structural Funds,
as useful means to assist with adaptation policy and with
measures directed at mitigation, such as energy saving and
renewable energy, to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases.
This would increase support for European climate policy;

requests
towards mitigation measures

the Commission to allocate more financial
14.
means
in the 2008 Budget
Midterm Review since the ambitious climate targets which have
been set can only be achieved if more public money is made
available;

Regarding the targets of climate policy

agrees with the European Commission,

15.
the European
Council and the European Parliament that the European Union
should pursue high unilateral targets given that leadership is
needed to create a global coalition against climate change. It
welcomes, therefore, the target to reduce GHG emissions in the
European Union, independent of policies in other regions, by at
least 20 % by 2020 compared to 1990 levels;

16.
urges the Commission to also formulate intermediate
targets for CO2 emissions, for example for the years 2013 or
2015,
in order to advance the implementation of mitigation
measures, and facilitate analysis and monitoring;

17.
supports the targets of improving energy efficiency by at
least 20 % by 2020, and raising the share of renewable energy
to at least 20 % by 2020. These targets could prove to be effec-
tive tools in efforts to reach the overall target on emissions
reduction. These aims cannot be achieved through new techno-
logical developments alone, but also need ongoing changes in
mentality both among producers (for example through designs
that are both energy efficient and attractive to consumers) and
among consumers;

targets set by the Commission for 2020, to avoid putting too
much of the burden of emission reduction on sectors that are
not participating in the ETS, such as households and other small
energy users;

22.
is in favour of partly auctioning the permits, especially
those for sheltered industries, because this will provide a better
incentive to reduce emissions and, hence, will also improve the
ETS's efficiency. This approach is also more in line with the
‘polluter pays’ principle. It would also create less of an economic
burden for participating firms than would be the case if all
permits were auctioned;

23.
takes the view that the auction and the free (benchmark)
allocation of the other (main) part of the emission permits can
be left to Member States, provided that the allocation proce-
dures within the EU are harmonised, in order to prevent distor-
tion of competition between Member States and to improve the
efficiency of the system; in a future trading system, considera-
the
tion could be given,
economy with comparable European benchmarks, to an alloca-
tion and/or target at EU level outside the national reduction
target, with an equal allocation of emission rights per unit of
production to all market participants;

in respect of specific sectors of

24.
requests the Commission to consider whether appro-
priate means, such as from the Structural funds, have to be used
they will be relatively
to compensate outermost regions if
strongly affected by the inclusion of aviation in the ETS.

welcomes any efforts to coordinate the European emis-
25.
sions trading system with comparable approaches in third coun-
tries. Distortions of competition in favour of producers from
countries with no comparable emissions trading system should
be prevented by means of appropriate measures, such as
compensatory levies;

18.
stresses the importance of regional flexibility in achieving
the efficiency and renewable energy targets, given that regional
flexibility reduces the overall cost of climate policy. However,
these targets should be obligatory at EU level;

26.
welcomes the proposal to extend the ETS to other gases
and sectors as this will raise both the effectiveness and the effi-
ciency of the system;

Regarding emissions trading as a climate policy instrument

agrees with the Commission that the European Emissions
19.
Trading Scheme (ETS) should play a central role since it is
potentially a cost-effective instrument for mitigating GHG emis-
sions;

20.
urges the Commission to effectively manage the number
of permits allocated since the ETS will only operate effectively if
the cap (i.e. the total
level of emission permits) is significantly
lower than the level of GHG emissions;

21.
stresses that the total number of permits to be allocated
within the ETS should be reduced in line with the emission

urges the Commission to carefully consider the option of
27.
opening up the ETS to small, but energy-intensive emitters since
this would probably lower their reduction costs;

28.
agrees with the Commission that aviation should be
included in the ETS because this industry is a rapidly growing
source of greenhouse gases, and urges the Commission to take
all the effects that this industry has on climate change into
account;

requests

the Commission to take into account

29.
the
specific characteristics of the aviation industry within the alloca-
tion of permits, in particular to deal with the fact that emissions
from aviation (both carbon and hydro) have larger impact on
climate change than activities occurring at ground level;

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30.
is strongly opposed to the proposed exemption for
government flights since governments should lead by example
to boost public support for the policy;

38.
believes that local and regional authorities also have an
important role to play in adapting to climate change. The CoR
will be drawing up an opinion on this subject in due course;

31.
believes that Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) should
be included in the ETS only on strict conditions relating to
monitoring and safety. Before this happens, it must be proven
by means of demonstration plants to what extent and/or at
what cost these technologies can make a contribution to the
avoidance of greenhouse gas emissions;

39.
notes that regional and local authorities are already
contributing to the European climate-policy in a number of
ways, for example:

a. communicating with the public, for example in schools, on
the necessity of taking action to prevent further climate
change;

Regarding other instruments of climate policy

b. making climate and energy issues a driving factor in spatial

planning;

32.
urges the Commission to develop systems through which
Member States and regions can meet the targets on renewable
energy and energy efficiency cost-effectively;

c. encouraging investment in infrastructures for biomass and

biofuel filling stations;

33.
takes the view that Member States which have only
limited possibilities to produce energy from renewable sources
target on
should be given the option of achieving their
renewable energy through trade, either within an EU-wide
green-energy certificate system, or through bilateral contracts
with other States which have a more abundant supply of renew-
able energy. The aim here is to reduce the overall costs of
meeting the targets on renewable energy;

34.
requests the Commission to set the target for energy effi-
ciency on an aggregate level (i.e. energy intensity of the whole
economy) taking into account regional differences in sectoral
structure. This would give Member States and regions the
flexibility to achieve the target using a wider range of measures,
including measures aimed at the energy consumption of appara-
tuses and the industrial structure of the (regional) economy;

35.
welcomes the Commission's intention to reduce average
emissions of new cars sold in the EU by 2012 to 120 g of CO2
per kilometre, and calls upon the Commission to do its utmost,
for instance by supporting research in this field, to reach the
target of 95 g CO2/km by 2020;

36.
calls upon the Commission to give careful consideration
to the subsidiarity principle when creating new policy instru-
ments. Regional and local authorities are well placed to take
effective measures in the field of public transport, traffic infra-
structure, energy infrastructure, spatial policy, energy-efficiency
measures and communication measures aimed at the public;

d. stimulating

investment

infrastructures, which
in heat
connect heat supply (remnant heat, geothermic heat, cold
and heat storage in the soil) with demand;

e. strengthening the modal shift

in transport

through,

for

example, spatial policy;

f. encouraging regional public transport, for example light rail

connections;

g. planning and introducing more footpaths and other routes

for non-motorised traffic;

h. promoting clean technology in public transport

through

green public procurement;

i. simplifying permit procedures

for

renewable

energy

projects;

j. enhancing the regulation of energy efficiency by local and
regional authorities through the creation of expert centres;

k. establishing

international partnerships

the
international coalition against climate change, and transfer
energy-saving technology to less-developed countries;

to extend

l. boosting research and development

in technology by

creating regional ‘energy valleys’;

m.

linking goals for energy efficiency or renewable energy to
regional goals
social
policy;

such as employment,

innovation,

Regarding the role of
climate policy

local and regional authorities in European

n. formulating ambitious targets, such as action plans for local
or regional emission reduction and ‘climate neutral areas’ or
‘climate neutral public transport and buildings’;

is convinced that measures at regional and local level are

37.
indispensable for an effective European climate policy;

o. using public procurement as a tool to reduce energy use and

improve energy efficiency for both goods and services;

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p. encouraging the treatment of organic matter and raw mate-
rials on regional and local level, because the reduction of
transport movements contributes to the CO2 balance.

40.
will assume its responsibility by strongly encouraging the
implementation of these kinds of measures at regional and local
level through three types of action:

a.

improving the dissemination of knowledge on cost-effective
climate measures;

b. encouraging cooperation between EU regions;

c. encouraging cooperation between EU regions and regions in
other parts of the world, such as in the United States, China
and India, partly by intensifying already existing relationships
between these regions;

41.
calls on the Commission to organise a conference on
regional and local climate policy, in order to disseminate best
practice among European regions, and to discuss how the
Commission can support regional and local climate policies
effectively;

42.
will encourage the development of a permanent network
of ambitious local and regional authorities that are keen to
enhance information exchange and create a platform for the
development of new ideas to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions
cost-effectively;

offers to participate actively in the further process of

43.
designing the European climate policy.

Brussels, 10 October 2007.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Michel DELEBARRE