THE EU’s greenhouse emissions and renewable energy targets are “unrealistic” and could damage European business, according to the head of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
The European Commission has set the 27 EU member states a target of cutting greenhouse-gas emissions by 20% and generating 20% of energy from renewable sources by 2020 – a target that Richard Lambert has claimed is not cost-effective.
“It can be done, but it will cost a hell of a lot of money. I think it is not realistic,” said Lambert.
He said the best chance of businesses fighting climate change was to set a realistic carbon price to enable big polluters to trade their carbon permits, and offering incentives for investment in low-carbon or carbon-neutral energy generation.
CBI’s chief made his remarks against a background of mounting evidence that, by transferring the bulk of manufacturing to Asia, the UK and other Western nations had merely exported their carbon footprints and had, in reality, done nothing genuine to tackle their emissions.
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