Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-04-24-Speech-4-019"
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"en.20080424.5.4-019"2
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"We will shortly be reaching a decision on the report by the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and Anne Ferreira on the Green Paper on market-based instruments for environment and related policy purposes. It is an excellent report and it has my full support.
Let me first make a personal comment. We are talking about market-based instruments here. Personally I am tired of the talk of market-based instruments in environmental policy. We do not need any more influence from companies or the market. We need more political control. We need more planning. We need, for example, tougher emissions requirements, we should be able to use public procurement for environmental purposes and environmental taxes and charges. It is in fact here that we have market-based instruments, because it is all about introducing taxes and charges on things which exacerbate environmental problems, internalising environmental problems in other words. These instruments are a good example of how we take political responsibility for environmental problems instead of leaving it to the market.
Let me give some concrete examples of particularly important aspects in this report. A minimum tax on CO
a CO
tax combined with a clear reduction requirement, is likely to be the most effective way of getting emissions down. My own country was the first in the world to introduce a CO
tax. That was in the early 1990s. Without claiming that Sweden is at the forefront in all climate areas, the CO
tax has actually been one of the main reasons behind the reduction in our CO
emissions. It is high time that more countries did the same. In paragraph 26 of this report we call for precisely such a CO
tax.
In general we call for more support for Member States to introduce environmental taxes. I believe today that there is an entirely unique opportunity to push for a CO
tax and other environmental taxes. In the most recent years, awareness has increased enormously worldwide. In the report we also state that the Member States themselves determine this area. Of course this is entirely correct. It is within their field of competence.
Another issue is the Emission Trading Scheme. We have to admit that the first trading period 2005–2007 has been nothing other than disastrous. The scheme has not succeeded in reducing emissions and many polluters have even received overly generous allocations and made huge profits from this scheme.
In this report we therefore call for auctioning of emission permits, we demand an emissions cap which is consistent with the reduction target of 30%, and restrictions and tough requirements for the use of flexible mechanisms. It is hoped that doing this will enable the trading scheme to start working. If this does not succeed, we should consider replacing the trading scheme with something else entirely, for example steep taxes on emissions.
In this context it is important to remember that now that aviation is to be included in emissions trading, we can no longer limit anti-aviation measures to the trading system alone. Parallel measures such as a tax on air fuel and charges on nitrogen oxide emissions, NO
are a must, and this is precisely what we are calling for in this report. Here I would like to take the opportunity to ask the Commission a question: You previously said that you would present measures against airline nitrogen dioxide emissions, against NO
and that this would happen this year. Can you tell us what is happening with that? Do you have a date when these measures will be in place? Considering the fact that air transport has almost doubled its emissions in recent years, many of us here would like to see concrete measures. We really cannot wait any longer!
These instruments are a good example of how we are taking political responsibility for climate change. Taxes and charges enable us to speed up the necessary reductions in emissions and hopefully solve the entire climate problem. Let us do so! This is our duty to our children and all other living beings on this beautiful planet."@en1
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