Thursday 16 October 2008

Climate vs. Finance?


Of course the financial crisis has been affecting everyone’s lives in the last few months and latest in the list of casualty seemed to be the EU climate plans. Today, a growing voice of concern from the weakest performing economies in the Union threatened to ruin the incredible progress made in European environmental policy. French president Sarkozy whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency hit back with a firm message.

"I can confirm that the objectives remain the same, the calendar remains the same, now it's up to (us) to find solutions for those countries that expressed concerns," he added "The climate package is so important that we cannot simply drop it, under the pretext of a financial crisis,"

The EU has also announced an ambitious plan to steer the economy back on track and Jose Manuel Barroso (European Commission Chief) added: "We are not going to let up on the battle against climate change, no question of choosing against combating the financial crisis and climate change."

Europe stands as a great beacon of hope in the battle against climate change, its targets for cutting carbon emissions are a great inspiration for the rest of the world and, as the UK Prime Minister points out, "This is not the time to abandon a climate change agenda which is important for the future," noting that high oil prices and less energy security "makes it more important that we deal with a long-term policy."

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