Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The EU, accounting for just over 10 % of global emissions, will not be able to
fight alone against climate change. International action is the only way to solve this
problem, and the EU must continue to engage its partners. Committed to years in
the formulation and implementation of internal policies relating ambitious climate,
the EU can drag itself with a number of other countries. At the Copenhagen Climate
Change Conference in 2009, world leaders were asked to negotiate a new treaty to
bind the entire international community to take measures to limit global warming
to no more than 2 °C in 2050 above preindustrial levels. The agreement replaces the
Kyoto Protocol which has expired in 2012. To deliver on these commitments, some
countries have to implement stronger action than those currently envisaged.
The EU should use this opportunity to maintain environmental leadership and
to strengthen cooperation with its international partners, also in order to progres-
sively develop a global carbon market that allows to support the efforts made both
by the developed and developing countries to implement strategies of low emission
intensity. The current energy road map 2050 strategy represents the continuation of
the cycle of the Lisbon Strategy (which has ended in 2010), that is, the EU reform
strategy of the last decade that has helped the EU to face the recent crisis. In March
2000 in Lisbon, the EU agreed on a strategic goal for the EU for the years 2000-
2010 in order to strengthen employment, economic reform, and social cohesion in
the context of knowledge-based economy. With the Lisbon Strategy, the EU set the
goal of becoming the most competitive knowledge-based economy in the world,
by concentrating efforts towards the two main objectives of sustainable economic
growth and employment. The energy road map 2050 strategy is based on the ac-
complishments achieved so far in the form of partnership for growth and jobs, and
it differs from the Lisbon Strategy since it faces new challenges. The new program
is the program of all EU member states, large and small, new and old, more or less
developed. In fact, the enlarged EU is characterized by different levels of develop-
ment and therefore different needs; for this reason, the EU 2020 strategy can be
modulated as a function of the starting points and different national circumstances
in order to promote growth. EU priorities that are a knowledge-based growth as a
factor of wealth, involvement of citizens in a participatory society, and competi-
tive and greener economy may be the stimulus factors in the world, and the EU,
although small compared to the rest of the world, can act as a guide.
1.6
Appendix 1 The Kyoto Protocol
The EU, accounting for just over 10 % of global emissions in 2012, is not able to
fight alone against climate change. International action is the only way to solve this
problem.
Most of the environmental problems are not national in scope; when more than
one country is involved, the typical solution is a treaty that generally comes from
international organizations. Among these, it is worth to remember the Intergovern-
mental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which is part of the United Nations (UN).
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