Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on Climate Change and the Lisbon Strategy
Date: 2007-10-24
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: climate change, energy policy, greenhouse gas, pollution control measures, social impact, transport policy

16.2.2008

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 44/69

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on ‘Climate Change and the Lisbon
Strategy’

(2008/C 44/18)

On 25-26 April 2007 the European Economic and Social Committee, acting under Article 29(2) of its Rules
of Procedure, decided to draw up an opinion on Climate Change and the Lisbon Strategy.

The Section for Agriculture, Rural Development and the Environment (The Sustainable Development Obser-
vatory), which was responsible for preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on
1 October 2007. The rapporteur was Mr Ehnmark.

At its 439th plenary session, held on 24 and 25 October 2007 (meeting of 24 October), the European
Economic and Social Committee adopted the following opinion unanimously.

1. Conclusions

1.1
Climate change has become our meeting with destiny.
Climate change is not only a threat to welfare, but also to our
very survival. It is a truly global threat, and it is accelerating, as
emissions continue to increase.

Using the Lisbon Strategy as a tool — and making the
1.8
Strategy ‘green’, means that the EU can use an existing structure,
with a well-established methodology and a well-functioning
system of coordination. The EU has to maximise efficiency and
use existing synergies whenever possible.

1.2
Scientists tell us that we have a time envelope of
10-15 years in which to stem those emission increases. The
conclusion is obvious: there is no time for idleness.

The EESC presents a map for integrating climate change
1.9
issues into the Lisbon Strategy. Of particular importance is the
capacity of
the Lisbon Strategy to achieve broad consensus
around common objectives and measures.

1.3
The European and Social Committee (EESC) urgently
asks the European Commission to launch programmes and
measures to implement the ambitious objectives set out by the
European Council in March this year. Citizens are waiting for
clear signals on priorities and measures. Europe should take the
lead in implementation, not only in planning.

The EESC underlines the necessity to developing a
1.10
number of integrated guidelines for fighting climate change, to
be included in the Lisbon Strategy. As with other guidelines in
the Strategy, these will be subject to the same assessment and
comparison procedures, including the open method of coordi-
nation.

climate

1.4 Mitigating
extremely
change
broad-ranging and sustained effort. As climate change will have
effects on virtually all parts of society, both the public and
private sectors will have to take responsibility.

requires

an

The EESC underlines the need for transparent measures,
1.5
making it possible for citizens to both follow and be inspired.
Measures have to be planned and implemented in a bottom-up
approach.

The EESC underlines the need for sustained efforts in
and local

1.6
communication and consultation with citizens
communities.

1.11
Climate change may accentuate current social distor-
tions and gaps, in both the EU and in other parts of the world.
Climate change is a major test for our capacity for solidarity.
The objective must be to manage adaptation and achieve mitiga-
tion without causing unemployment and social distortion. The
fight must not lead to increasing numbers of citizens living in
poverty. The EESC underlines the importance of a continued
Lisbon Strategy that combines competitiveness, social cohesion,
and action against climate change.

1.7
The EESC strongly recommends that the Lisbon Strategy
for competitiveness and jobs include a major effort against
climate change. The Lisbon Strategy already contains a commit-
ment to sustainable development. Now is the time to integrate
the fight against climate change.

1.12
Financing the fight against climate change must be built
on combined private and public resources. The European Invest-
ment Bank has a key role to play in this respect. The EU's own
resources are directed to
budget
measures against climate change. The EESC strongly recom-
mends that the Commission develops instruments for producing
a ‘green’ GDP.

should highlight where

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1.13
Fighting climate change can generate positive competi-
tive effects. Global markets are searching for new, energy-saving
solutions, for example, in the transport arena. Investments in
research and development should be upgraded. Lifelong learning
is more essential than ever.

1.14
The work ahead can be described as a test of our parti-
cipatory democracy. Citizens expect to be consulted. The social
partners have an extremely important role to play in this as the
bridges between citizens and governments. Social dialogue at all
levels is a key instrument. Organised civil society will have an
essential role, not least in the area of social economy.

The EESC will remain heavily committed to the fight
1.15
against climate change. The EESC is ready to make concrete
contributions, as it is already doing for the Lisbon Strategy. The
EESC will work in the spirit of solidarity between peoples and
generations, internally to the EU, and externally.

1.16
political leadership.

The fight ahead will require a dedicated and responsive

2.4
‘The Commission's proposals on energy and climate
change form a central part of the Lisbon Agenda for Growth
and Jobs’, stated Mr Barroso. The Lisbon Strategy, decided in
2000, established the objective of making the EU ‘the most
competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the
world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and
better jobs and greater social cohesion’. Energy policy was
defined in 2006 by the European Council as one of the Lisbon
Strategy's four priority areas. No 11 of the integrated guidelines
for growth and jobs, for the present three-year period, also
recommends to the Member States to make use of the potential
of renewable energies and energy efficiency for growth, jobs and
competitiveness.

2.5
The EU has to find a balance between competitiveness,
cohesion and the rapidly growing threats from climate change.
The purpose of this opinion is to explore where synergies and
conflicts exist — or could exist — in the fight against climate
change.

have

2030

The costs for returning GHG emissions to current levels
2.6
in
over
been
USD 200 billion (1). In a recent report by the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change the distribution of
costs is the following:

estimated

recently

be

to

— Industry: USD 38 billion

2. A vigorous climate change programme from the EU

— Buildings, mainly insulation: USD 50 billion

The European Council,

2.1
in March this year, adopted a
vigorous and ambitious programme for fighting climate change.
The Action Plan included a target of 20 percent renewables in
the EU energy mix, a 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gases
(GHG) by the year 2020 (and up to a 30 percent reduction
under some conditions), and the long-term objective of reducing
GHG emissions in the EU by 60-80 percent by the year 2050.
Moreover, the EU decided to increase energy efficiency within
the EU by 20 percent by 2020. With this Action Plan, the EU
has taken a lead, globally speaking, in the efforts to fight climate
change.

— Transportation: USD 90 billion

— Waste: USD 1 billion

— Agriculture: USD 30 billion

— Forestry: USD 20 billion

— Technology research: USD 35-45 billion.

2.2
The European Council was less clear concerning the
instruments for implementing the objectives. The European
Commission was asked to provide proposals for future deci-
sions. In addition, the Commission launched a public consulta-
tion on how to adapt to climate change.

The figures indicate the need for effective management and
coordination. To this (as the Stern Review pointed out last year)
should be added the high costs of doing nothing. In fact, the
longer we wait, the more expensive the work will be.

2.3
The sense of urgency has been highlighted in a number
of statements. For example, Commission President José Manuel
Barroso stated earlier this year that the EU must continue to
lead in the fight against climate change and to provide an incen-
‘The leadership comes with the EU's
tive for others to follow:
commitment to cut emissions by at least 20 percent by 2020;
the incentive by making clear that we will go further if others
join us. It is, after all, global warming, not European warming’.

2.7
Financing the work ahead is a major challenge. The EESC
calls on the European Commission to launch consultations with
public and private stakeholders in order to establish priorities.
The European Investment Bank as well as the Structural Funds
have a key role to play in financing solutions.

(1) United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC):
Analysis of existing and planned investment and financial flows rele-
vant to the development of effective and appropriate international
response to climate change.

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The Lisbon Strategy will next be reviewed by the Euro-
2.8
pean Council
in March 2008 with the new planning period
stretching to 2011. The review is an opportunity to highlight
synergies.

3. The core challenge: realising potential synergies

3.1
The Lisbon Strategy has been a key tool for promoting
common objectives between the 27 Member States. This is an
achievement in itself. Climate change introduces a number of
new policy issues to the European agenda. The potential for
synergy effects is considerable.

From the outset, the knowledge-based society was seen

3.2
as one of the key foundations of the Lisbon Strategy.

3.3
Innovation policies, support for innovation centres, and
new initiatives for promoting the transfer of knowledge from
research to products are part of the Lisbon Strategy and of the
EU programme against climate change.
In the fast growing
market for energy-efficient products, Europe is in a leading posi-
tion in many areas. However,
in the manufacturing industry
sector, Europe may be vulnerable to competition from foreign
producers with emphasis on small and fuel-efficient cars.
Further expansion of the service sector, commensurate to the
introduction of ambitious measures against climate change, will
be important.

3.4
Climate protection is also about energy policy. Europe
must speak with one voice when it comes to its foreign energy
it has a negotiating power whose
policy. By acting together,
interests — climate protection, energy security, affordable
energy — cannot be ignored.

3.5
Climate change may accentuate current social distortions
and gaps. Ambitious education policies will help to avoid such
developments.

The repercussions of climate change policies on employ-
3.6
ment will emerge as one of the crucial
issues. The ambition
must be to manage adaptation and mitigation without causing
widespread unemployment. The changing industrialised land-
scape will create a wider demand for lifelong learning and will
necessarily engender changes in the organisation of labour, jobs
and income.

3.8
Agriculture also has a role to play both in the arena of
climate change and in the context of the Lisbon strategy, not
only as an economic activity affected by climatic changes but
also as a sector with the potential to help mitigate the impact of
those changes. It is important — now more than ever — to
encourage agricultural researchers to continue their quest for
ways to cut farm inputs and modify soil techniques while at the
same time maintaining optimum yield, and also to ensure the
future availability of new plant varieties that are better suited to
climatic changes. Attention should also focus on the whole
aspect of non-food primary agricultural production. Provision
should be made for ongoing training appropriate to the sector.

3.9
The use of Structural Funds will be influenced by climate
problems such as desertification and rising sea levels. Another
factor is people living in peripheral areas where rising energy
prices will create very real problems. Maintaining living condi-
tions is an issue where the networks created within the Lisbon
Strategy can make a valuable contribution in the form of the
exchange of experiences.

The examples given all indicate the scope and urgency
3.10
of using the opportunities for coordinated actions between the
Lisbon Strategy and the European Climate Change Programme.

4. Towards a new definition of growth

4.1
It is important both in economic terms but also from a
climate change perspective that measures under the Lisbon
Strategy goal of
‘sustainable growth’ be adopted. The new
Lisbon Strategy's three-year programme should therefore care-
fully examine the definition of ‘growth’. Growth that is car-
bon-neutral, or even has a positive carbon balance should be
promoted.

4.2
The Committee has pointed out on several occasions that
growth can no longer be seen in purely quantitative terms;
rather, a new concept of growth is needed, which puts qualita-
tive objectives based on sustainability criteria first. These
sustainability criteria of course include a decoupling from
growth in GHG emissions. It therefore reiterates its call upon
the Commission and the Council:

Firm support from local communities is needed for a
3.7
successful
to create
fight against climate change. Projects
carbon-neutral villages attract much interest. There is a substan-
tial need for exchanges of experience. The demand for building
low-energy houses will grow, as will the demand for renovation
and insulation of houses.

— to determine whether or not there is a clash between the
strategy and the fight against
sustainable development
climate change on the one hand, and the Lisbon Strategy on
the other, particularly as regards the use of GDP as an indi-
cator of social welfare and economic prosperity; and

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— to indicate the requisite features of any new ‘prosperity indi-
cator’ more in line with sustainability principles — which
could be called for example ‘smart growth’ or ‘green GDP’.

6. A road-map for integrating climate change issues and

the Lisbon Strategy

5. Transport — an area of conflict?

5.1
The conflict of objectives is particularly acute in the
transport sector. The Lisbon Strategy emphasises the importance
of adequate transport corridors and networks of
transport
means. The result is that a great deal of work has focused on
expanding road transport. But this is completely in conflict with
climate change mitigation.

5.2
In the context of the present economic growth in the EU
countries, the volume of road transport is increasing swiftly;
some calculations indicate a growth of up to 40 percent in the
period up to 2020. The increasing volumes of air transport add
to this. For the moment, the growth in transport has not been
decoupled from an increase in GHG emissions, and there is no
‘silver bullet’ in sight. Biofuels will not be able to replace fossil
fuels in the near future and likely technical improvements in
fuel and motor efficiency alone will most probably not be able
to compensate for the projected increase in transport volume.

The new three-year plan for the Lisbon Strategy should
5.3
approach the transport
issues also from a climate change
perspective. The objective should be that the EU must have an
adequate transport system — but that transport systems will
have to give more consideration to their effects on the climate.
is only marginally
transport by rail
The fact
increasing is a very serious warning signal. This was further
emphasised last year in the Transport White Paper, where the
focus was on road and air transport and not on rail and internal
waterways. Looking at the Structural Funds, it is obvious that
considerable resources are spent in a way that does not lead to a
decrease in GHG emissions, but rather the opposite.

that goods

5.4
In the perspective of the next 20-50 years (a timespan
used by the European Council on climate change issues) Europe
will have to find transport structures that are both effective and
climate supportive. Why are there, to take one example, no
provisions for transporting more urgent goods via TGV?

6.1
The objectives set for EU work on climate change will
require considerable input from many institutions and stake-
It stands to reason that the working methods and
holders.
experiences of the Lisbon Strategy should be utilised.

Above all, it will be of paramount importance that the
6.2
Lisbon Strategy, with its three-pillar work approach, integrates
the climate change objectives into its operational programme
with a view to accelerating progress in priority areas.

A road-map for an integrated EU effort

6.3
to mitigate
climate change, and to adapt to it, would include the following
points:

6.4
The European Commission should review present
programmes in order to highlight climate change issues in the
present budget. In the next budget period, significant resources
will have to be reoriented to fighting climate change.
It is,
however, likely that some resources will have to be transferred
already in the present budget period. It must be underlined that
the key responsibility for mitigation and adaptation lies at the
national level.

6.5
The European Commission will present legislative propo-
sals on renewables and emissions by early December. This will
make it possible for the European Council to take necessary
decisions in March 2008, in the context of identifying guidelines
for the next three-year period of the Lisbon Strategy. This will
be a crucial opportunity for promoting a joint implementation.

6.6
It is particularly important that the European Commis-
sion should be able to establish the necessary coordination
between its units and services. The EESC has previously, on a
number of occasions, stressed that internal coordination in the
Commission is of extreme importance.

6.7
On the basis of Commission proposals and Council deci-
sions, a major information and communication effort should be
launched, with the objective of raising citizens' awareness and of
promoting initiatives at local and regional level.

Increasing road transport volume also means that aging
5.5
lorries — with ‘dirty’ engines — are kept running, even though
they emit
large amounts of GHG. The Commission should
initiate consultation on methods for modernising old lorry
fleets — and, ultimately, for the phasing out of outdated and
inefficient vehicles. Moreover, measures have to be taken on the
demand side. Incentives have to be put into place in order to
reduce the overall amount of transport and to switch to more
sustainable transport modes.

6.8
In the light of the forthcoming proposals on renewables
and emission reductions, the EESC emphasises the importance
of close and continuous dialogue with the social partners and
organised civil society. The EESC recommends that the social
dialogue be used as one of many forums for information and
consultation. It is imperative that organised civil society should
also be involved in the deliberations.

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To sum up some of the particular proposals for the road

6.9
map ahead, the following points should be made:

— assessment of operational objectives for three-year periods;

— integrating climate change issues into the broad policy

guidelines, in economic and social fields;

— inclusion of climate change issues in the annual national

reform programmes on progress on the Strategy;

— involvement of stakeholders, particularly at national and

local level;

— comparative reports by the Commission on progress made;

— widening of the use of the Open Method of Coordination to

include climate change issues;

— active involvement of the mass media and stakeholder orga-
nisations in providing citizens with up-to-date information
on progress made;

— targeted support for innovative projects, particularly local
communities in the development of carbon neutral plat-
forms (cf. examples from the UK).

6.10
the Lisbon Strategy:

Possible examples for benchmarking climate issues in

— increasing the percentage of rail and internal waterway

transport by two percent each year;

— increasing the use of energy-saving lamps in public buildings

by a certain percentage each year;

— initiating school

information-communication days for all

pupils, one day per year.

Brussels, 24 October 2007.

7. Role of the social partners and organised civil society

7.1
Climate change and the Lisbon Strategy are together
major challenges for the Union. It is imperative that actions and
programmes are drafted and decided on from the bottom-up,
not the other way around. Social partners and organised civil
society must be integrated in the work.

The EESC will be ready to make a contribution with its

7.2
network of stakeholders.

8. The need for political leadership

The European Council has taken a rigorous decision on

8.1
objectives for reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases.

8.2 What this will mean,
in more practical terms, for our
societies and our citizens' everyday lives, is one of the big issues
ahead. What kind of society do we want? How can the Euro-
pean Social Model adapt to the multiple challenges that climate
change will bring? How will the Model be able to manage
parallel demands
social cohesion and
sustainable development
in a globalised environment? These
should be themes for the continued debate on what kind of a
society citizens want.

for competitiveness,

In a number of opinions in recent years, the EESC has
8.3
underlined the need for political
leadership in the work on
climate change and sustainable development. This demand is no
less important today.

8.4
Climate change is coming rapidly. There is some anxiety
among citizens. What is needed now is a constructive political
level, but very
leadership, not only at European and national
much also at municipal and local level.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Dimitris DIMITRIADIS