The absorption of GHG emissions by forests and green lands, which serves as an important storage of CO2, has been included in the Paris Agreement, due to the active role of the Polish delegation supported by others. It will also prevent the increase of GHG emissions caused by deforestation in some EU countries, such as Denmark, Ireland and the Netherlands. The situation in such countries as Germany, Austria, Estonia and Latvia should be discussed as well. We need our Europe to be greener. The role of conservation, the sustainable management of forest, and enhancement of forest carbon stock, should concern not only EU Member States, but developing counties with rain forests, as well. To reach the goal of the Paris Agreement, we need an urgent directive, which will introduce the possibility of acknowledging forests as a natural CO2 storage, with the same results as CCS or CCU concepts. As we all know, the EU already reached in 2013, its 20% CO2 decrease target aimed for 2020. The result is 21%. To better understand the impact of forest “storage”, we prepared a graph showing the EU’s CO2 decrease, according to existing regulations, compared to the forest “storage” factor. If this factor had been included into the EU regulations, the total decrease of CO2 would have been 23%, instead of the existing 21%. Maybe this does not seem to be a big difference, but the forest “storage” factor will be a great instrument concerning CO2 decreases, and inevitably, will stimulate Europe to be more green, which we should encourage. Jarosław Cendrowski, Coordinator, Grupa LOTOS [...]
1. Introduction The Paris Agreement has shown that the EU’s proposal to decrease CO2 emissions by 40% by 2030, from 1990 levels, was the most ambitious pledge made at the Summit. This means that the other industrialised countries, such as the US, Canada and Australia, are lagging behind the EU’s ambitions, as well as the emerging powers, notably China and India. If we translate the pledges into emissions per tonne per capita, then in 2030, we can expect below 5.0 tonnes in the EU, whilst in the US nearly 12 tonnes. Why should we be so ambitious and accept a constant loss of competitiveness and not fulfill one of the basic principles of the Lisbon Treaty, which states, that the EU should implement policies ensuring advances in economic integration? As Eurostat shows, the distance between the EU-15 and EU-11 (GDP per capita), has practically not changed during the last 10 years. As figures indicate , a 1% increase of GDP per capita in the EU-15 is equal to 3.1 % in the EU-11. If the ratio is 1% to 4%, the chance to catch-up will take 40 years. This is our real European problem requiring immediate attention, as new investments are desperately needed in the EU-11. The revision of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is highly important for the Central European energy-intensive industries ( steel, chemical, refining, etc) and crucial in determining how the EU aims to combine its agenda on growth, jobs and investments with climate and environmental policies. For example, in its current form, the proposal puts at risk the viability of the steel industry in [...]
In a few words
We represent the widely understood Central Europe energy sector (electricity generation, distribution and transmission, renewables, gas, oil, heat generation and distribution, chemical industries, etc.), universities and scientific institutions.
