‘Supporting the European Parliament on climate change –the role of the European Environment Agency’Professor Jacqueline McGlade, EEA Executive Director European Parliament, Brussels, 29 September 2009

The EEA provides soundinformation to EU policy‑makerson climate issues

The European Environment Agencyis a decentralised Community Agencybased in Copenhagen. Based on a1990 Regulation, the Agency startedto operate in 1994.The EEA Strategy defines the maingoal of the Agency as follows: toprovide

European decision‑makers

and citizens with access to

timelyand relevant information

. TheEEA aims at providing a

soundknowledge basis

for environmentalpolicies.The EEA places climate change atthe centre of its activities, serving asa

data collector and informationprovider to policy‑makers

and thegeneral public.In order for the European Communityto comply with monitoring andreporting obligations under theinternational climate regime, the EEAproduces the annual

Communitygreenhouse gas inventory report

,which is submitted by the EuropeanCommission on behalf of theCommunity to the UN FrameworkConvention on Climate Change.The EEA also produces theforward‑looking annual

Greenhousegas emission trends andprojections report

, which forms thebasis for the Commission reporting tothe Council and European Parliamenton progress towards meeting theKyoto commitments.To facilitate easy access togreenhouse gas information, the EEAhas developed Member‑State‑specificcountry profiles as well asuser‑friendly web‑based dataservices.In recent years, the Agency assessedthe

impacts

of and the

vulnerability

to climate change in Europe. Basedon a large set of indicators, EEAreports provided a clear view of thenecessary action, most recentlywith information on

adaptation

andthe

challenge of changing water resources in the Alps

Climate change has impactsin Europe; impacts and

vulnerabilities conrm the need

to act

Observations of climate change, itsimpacts and causes, are alarming.The

global average temperature

has increased almost

0.8 °C abovepre‑industrial levels

. Withoutreductions of greenhouse gasemissions in line with the

EU 2 °Ctarget

, climate change will lead tosignificant risks. Our societies wouldstruggle to cope with temperaturerises above this stabilisation target.The

vulnerability to climate changevaries,

however,

widely acrossregions and sectors in Europe

.The main vulnerable areas in Europeare mountainous regions, coastalzones, river flood‑prone areas, theMediterranean and the Arctic. Climatechange already triggered

challengesfor Europe

, such as:

• increasing temperatures

;

• changing

precipitation

: someMediterranean regions receive20 % less rain than a century ago;

• a

rising

sea level

: the global sealevel has increased up to 3.1 mmper year in the past 15 years;

• more intense and frequent

extreme weather events

: some90 % of all natural disasters thatoccurred in Europe since 1980 aredirectly or indirectly attributable toweather and climate, representingabout 95 % of the economiclosses caused by catastrophicevents;

• melting glaciers, ice sheets

and Arctic sea ice

: in September 2007 the minimum surface wasonly half the normal minimummeasured in the 1950s;

• additional pressures on

ecosystems

: climate changeis responsible for the observednorthward and uphill shifts of many European plant species.By the late 21st century, 60 % of mountain plant species may faceextinction.These impacts underline thatadaptation to climate change muststart now, alongside continued actionmitigating the effects of climatechange.

The EU is on a pathway towardsachieving its Kyoto target, butfurther measures need to beimplemented

When data became available for the first of the EEA greenhouse gasemission trends reports, achievingthe Kyoto targets was still a distantprospect. In 2000, ten out of then15 Member States were expected toachieve their Kyoto targets.EU emissions are decreasing:

•Greenhousegasemissionsofthe

EU‑27 fell for the 4th consecutiveyear. Based on most recent EEAestimates released in August 2009,greenhouse gas emissions in 2008stand approximately 10.7 % belowthe 1990 level for the EU‑27.

• In 2008, EU-15 Member States

(having a target under theEU burden sharing)

emitted6.2 % less compared to thebase years defined by theKyoto Protocol

.Currently, greenhouse gasemissions in the EU‑27 accountfor approximately 10.5 % of globalgreenhouse gas emissions coveredby the United Nations FrameworkConvention on Climate Change(UNFCCC).

The most importantgreenhouse gas is CO

, accountingfor 83 % of total EU‑27 emissions in2007 (excluding land use, land‑usechange and forestry).Between 1990 and 2007, theaverage annual per capitaemissions decreased from 11.8 to10.2 tonnes carbon‑dioxide equivalentin the EU‑27. This is still well abovethe non‑Annex 1 and world averageper capita emissions of 4 and7 tonnes carbon‑dioxide equivalentrespectively. EU‑27 per capitaemissions are lower than the average15 tonnes carbon‑dioxide equivalentper capita for industrialised countries.

Energy production andconsumption are by far the largestcontributors to greenhouse gasemissions in the EU

, accountingfor

79 %

of total emissions in 2007.Transport is the strongest contributor to the growth in greenhouse gasemissions.

Greenhousegasemissionsfrom

international aviation and maritimetransport have grown steadilysince 1990, reaching 6 % of totalEU emissions in 2007.The 2008 trends and projectionsreport showed that

the EU-15 Kyoto

target (an 8 % reduction frombase‑year levels) will not be metby domestic emission reductionsonly.

EU‑15 Member States will needto acquire additional emission rightsfrom other countries, using the Kyotoflexible mechanisms.

The 2009 EEA trends andprojections report will be releasedin October.

The EEA stands ready to assistin the implementation of recent

EU legislation and a post-2012

climate regime

The European Union is almost half way to its unilateral emission targetof 20 %

greenhouse gas emissionsreductions for 2020 compared to 1990— a target which the EU decided toincrease under certain conditionsto ‘30 % within the framework of anambitious and comprehensive globalagreement in Copenhagen on climatechange’. The EU intends to meet its2020 target through implementingthe Climate and Renewable EnergyPackage formally adopted in 2009.

International cooperation is key to

any solution

. Climate change callsfor global regulation. Solutions will notemerge unless governments take thelead role.

Science is an essential basis for decision‑making

on a global climateregime. The IPCC’s 4th Assessmentreport was crucial in providing a solidscientific basis for decision‑makers.

Reducing the risks of climatechange is urgent, possible andaffordable

. A wide range of benefitswill flow from a concerted effortto alter our energy economy now,including sustainable energy jobgrowth, reductions in the health andeconomic costs of climate change,and the restoration of ecosystems andrevitalisation of ecosystem services.