1.5 The European Commission's ‘Climate Action: Energy for a Changing World’

Similar debates occur at different political scales. For example, the European Commission's ‘Climate Action: Energy for a Changing World’ is the EU's integrated energy and climate change policy adopted in December 2008. It includes three key targets for 2020:

  • cutting greenhouse gases by 20% (30% if international agreement is reached)

  • reducing energy consumption by 20% through increased energy efficiency

  • meeting 20% of energy needs from renewable sources.

Activity 2

The EU mentions ‘the challenge of halving global emissions by 2050’. How does this 50% reduction target compare with figures from other sources; for example, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Friends of the Earth?

1.4 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznań, Poland

1.6 ‘The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change’