Energy and climate change in the European Union. Egmont European Affairs Working Paper, 2007

摘要

As climate change is a global problem, the answer to it also needs to be global. On the level of international cooperation, the answer has taken the shape of a United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) adopted in 1992, and its Kyoto Protocol of 1997. In order to reach the targets the EU committed itself to under the Kyoto Protocol, the European Commission launched the European Climate Change Programme (ECCP) in 2000. Most of the measures under this umbrella for European action against climate change focus on the energy sector. The European Commission announced a major package of proposals and legislation on 10 January 2007. Will this new European Energy Policy be able to overcome the challenges? Will there be a Common Energy Policy? In this part of the Energy-issue of Studia Diplomatica, attention is first drawn to the EUs international commitments regarding climate change, i.e. under the Kyoto Protocol to the UN Framework Convention for Climate Change. Narrowing the perspective, the legislative framework of the EU concerning energy and climate change is then explained. The concrete current measures taken against climate change in the energy sector are thereafter analysed, before the paper considers the main measures which are still in progress.