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COPENHAGEN, May 25 (Xinhua) — European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso urged on Monday the international community to grab the chance to build a low-carbon society, expressing his confidence in achieving an agreement on climate change later this year.
Speaking at the Business Summit on Climate Change here, Barroso said financial challenges and difficulties posed by the energy insecurity and climate change must be dealt with together.
The three-day meeting, which opened on Sunday, was attended by about 500 business leaders, mainly from energy industries in the world.
“These challenges are not mutually exclusive, and must be tackled together,” he said. “The costs of climate change will be much higher if we don’t make adjustments now – up to 20 percent of GDP annually.”
“We think we can limit the cost of our package to around half of one percent of GDP. Without the package, the EU will be much more vulnerable to energy shocks, with potentially drastic consequences for our industry and economies,” he added.
More than 50 percent of EU’s consumption of energy is imported and the figure could rise to 64 percent by 2020 under business as usual projections.
Meanwhile, Barroso stressed the business opportunities brought by the clean energy such as wind power. “Most importantly of all: we must recognize that change brings big economic opportunities – if the EU further exploits its first mover advantage and consolidates its position on world markets for energy efficient and low carbon technologies.”
According to the president, achieving a 20 percent share for renewables could mean more than a million jobs in this industry by2020. “In short, the chance to build a low carbon opportunity society, and we must not miss this chance.”
A report, Green Jobs and Clean Energy Economy, authored by Daniel Kammen and Ditlev Engel, demonstrates that appropriate policy frameworks and large-scale strategic investment in clean energy technologies will both spur greater employment than fossil fuel investment and pay dividends for the planet.
The report said that in the United States alone, a national Renewable Portfolio Standard of 25 percent in 2025 coupled with a 0.5 percent annual electricity growth rate would generate more than 2 million jobs, and further increasing low-carbon sources by around 50 percent would generate more than 3 million jobs.
Barroso indicated that smart investment in infrastructure, energy efficiency, and clean car technology will support vulnerable industries “by preparing them to thrive in markets of the future, instead of artificially propping them up for markets that are fading into the past.”
A United Nations meeting on climate change is to take place in December in Copenhagen and leaders are expected to reach an agreement on reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
Barroso expressed optimism about the negotiations. “International negotiations are progressing well, although they are every bit as tough as we all predicted they would be, and we are now entering the critical, text-based phase of the negotiation.”
“A very encouraging development has been the positive engagement of U.S. President (Barack) Obama’s personal involvement has brought about nothing less than a sea-change in the U.S. position,” he said.
He reaffirmed the call that developed nations collectively cut emissions by 30 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and urged the developing nations by 15 percent to 30 percent.
“Finally, we need to develop clear financial architecture to underpin the Copenhagen agreement. This must allow for different sources of funding, private and public – indeed, the carbon marketmust be the major source,” he said.
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