Green Growth Summit important for economy and climate change

On 15 October, today, ministers, businesses, experts and MEPs from across the political spectrum will come together for the Green Growth Summit to call for an ambitious EU 2030 climate change and energy package agreement at the October European Council.

An ambitious package could pave the way for a global deal on climate change at the Paris COP in 2015. The UK has been leading the way throughout these negotiations. Earlier this month, the Prime Minister issued a rallying call at the United Nations Climate Summit, saying he would ‘be pushing European Union leaders to come to Paris with an offer to cut emissions by at least 40 per cent by 2030.’

As the Prime Minister set out in his speech to the UN Summit, the case for immediate action on climate change are manifold. ‘Climate change is one of the most serious threats facing our world. And it is not just a threat to the environment. It is also a threat to our national security, to global security, to poverty eradication and to economic prosperity’. The Green Growth Summit will attempt to tie these strands together, looking specifically at the European context, and the case for agreement of an ambitious EU 2030 deal.

On the issue of Economic Prosperity, the Summit marks the European launch of the New Climate Economy Report, which sets out how the transition to a low carbon economy will bring net economic benefits to countries at all levels of income: new jobs, cleaner air, better health, lower poverty and more energy security. Much of the business community recognizes these benefits, and they have been calling for an ambitious package. Agreeing a deal will also send a strong message to Russia that Europe is serious about increasing its energy security. And finally, an ambitious EU 2030 deal represents the best hope of pushing the world’s other major emitters to come forward with their own emissions reductions commitments as part of a global deal on climate change that world leaders have committed to agreeing at the Paris COP in 2015. Put simply, the path to Paris starts in Brussels this month.

For these reasons we can’t afford to delay. Europe needs a decision at the October European Council, and the Green Growth Summit marks the beginning of the countdown to one of the most important decisions European leaders have taken in a generation.