Document Actions
Energy and climate change
With the release of the Fourth Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2007, most doubts have vanished that the continuous emission of greenhouse gases will change the appearance of our planet.
To mitigate the proceeding global warming in the future it is a top priority to initiate mitigation strategies on the policy level. The European Union has acknowleged this challenge and put the climate change policy into the focus of its environmental policy. It is planned to reduce the carbon dioxid emission by 20 % by 2020 in comparison to 1990. Such an ambitious goal can be reached only if all member states contribute to the reduction. In addition, awareness for climate change and the will to energy-saving behaviour among the population is indispensible.
The will to contribute to energy-saving behaviour varies broadly among the European population. While old member states have a long tradition of environmental awarenss raising and envrionmental education, this holds not true for many of the Middle Eastern European countries. Albeit the fact, that non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other interest groups have started to deal with the issue, they have not managed to sharpen the public sense for climate change and energy saving. This is be more neccessary then ever since behaviour patterns are still influenced by socialist times, when energy seemed to be an ubiqious good that was avialable whenever it was needed.
In contrast to the 1960s and 70s the far-reaching consequences of increasing energy consumption for the climate have been recognized. It is therefore urgent to initiate measures to increase the public awareness in Eastern Europe and to affect behaviour patterns.
However, the strongly increasing energy demand in Eastern Europe should not distract from the fact also Germany and other Western European States are far from a sustainable energy economy. Germany is still dependent on eventually ending, fossil fuels and the everyday behaviour is usually anything but energy-saving. A holiday trip to Thailand for example will consume much more energy than one can save by replacing all light bulbs with energy saving lamps. A turning point in the steadily increasing motorisation is also not forseeable, yet. To cut a long story short: There is still a lot to be done.
