There are significant differences between the EU Member States’ economic recovery programmes, which are aiming to reduce CO2 emissions and enhance energy security, EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas warned in Athens on March 6, adding that they are often saying one thing and doing another.

“At first look, there are significant differences between the member states’ programmes. Also in many cases there is a Green Gap between their proclamations and their actions. Finally some of their actions have been probably badly planned, which means there may even be a negative impact on the environment,” the commissioner told a room-full of Greek businessmen at the 1st Green Business Congress at the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) in Greece.

Improving the coordination between member states and promoting the exchange of knowledge and experience can play a critical role. The European Commission can play an important part in this, Dimas said. The Commissioner noted that on March 2, at a meeting of EU Environment Ministers in Brussels, he asked their governments to collect, with the help of his staff, all the data from the green investments planned in the 27 member states. “This way we will have all data and we will be able to suggest some measures and in some cases — I wouldn’t use the word ‘force’ — but ‘steer’ them in the right direction,” Dimas said, adding that the businesses can play a critical role in developing a green economy that could also be a way out of a tough economic environment.

Earlier last week, the EU Environment Ministers meetnig in Brussles agreed on further steps towards a Copenhagen agreement. The EU is still the only community worldwide with a specified and binding emission reduction target of 20 percent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels, and this target is to be automatically changed to 30 percent when other important producers of greenhouse gasses come aboard. “Therefore, we have invited our global partners such as the United States, Japan and Australia to come up with their own mid-term targets as soon as possible,” Czech Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Environment Martin Bursík, who is also the Environment Council President, said.

Dimas, Bursík and other European officials will travel to Washington on March 14-15 to meet various top level US officials in charge of climate change policy. Climate will also be on the agenda when US President Barack Obama travels to Prague in April.

“It is clear that the EU as a community of relatively rich countries has the responsibility to help others. We agreed on exploring ways of ensuring financial resources to help developing as well as the poorest countries and the most threatened island states to adopt mitigating and adaptation measures. But it is also necessary to see that they take their own necessary action,” Bursík noted. “Therefore we expect the developing countries to adopt their own low-carbon policies,” he added.

The Council also took into account the European Commission and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) estimations that overall investments of 23–54 billion Euro will be needed yearly until 2030 to cover the adaptation needs in developing countries. Mitigation investments worldwide should increase to 175 billion Euro a year in 2020. “The distribution of the costs is still to be negotiated. It depends also on the successful implementation of cap-and-trade systems which will put the market price on carbon and influence the amount of private investments,” Bursík added.

“We have not weakened our resolve - on the contrary, we are making another step forward. And the current global economic crisis does not change anything. The Ministers agree that the crisis is an opportunity to modernise and shift our economy towards a more efficient and low-carbon one, bringing millions of new green jobs,” Bursík said. The EU Member States also supported Austria’s and Hungary’s plans to continue their national bans on the cultivation of genetically modified maize. “The Council confirmed that it is up to the Member States to decide whether to allow GM crops cultivation on their territory or not. I think it now for the Commission to come up with a proposal on how to change the rules to avoid a situation where a Member State which wants to be GM-free has to come to the Council again and again and defend its position,” Bursík said.

The Ministers also adopted a common position of those EU Member States that are members of the International Whaling Commission, aiming to protect endangered cetaceans in the most effective manner. “The EU will not even consider undermining the moratorium on commercial whaling. But the adopted position gives a chance to effective negotiation mainly with Japan to strengthen the protection of the most endangered species of cetaceans,” Bursík said.