News review
Ministers meet in Brussels to agree a shared plan of action
By Stuart Qualtrough
uropean
E MinistersCabinet for
responsible
energy and climate
change gathered in Brussels for
the European Green Growth
Summit to set their vision for a
low-carbon economy.
UK Energy and Climate Change
Secretary Ed Davey, who has been
instrumental in establishing the
Ministerial Green Growth Group,
said: “Thirteen EU countries and
dozens of business leaders have
come together to deliver a simple
message – only by acting together
and by showing leadership can we
deliver the signi?cant economic
bene?ts that we have today
shown is possible in tackling
climate change.
“Businesses and investors are
telling us that the EU needs to
get its act together and that we
need to urgently agree a 2030
Climate and Energy Framework
and reform the EU ETS. Only then
Europe looks to a low-carbon future
will investors have the con?dence
to put the billions into low carbon
that we need.
“The consequences of inaction
are clear. The stakes are high, if we
do not act, we could all lose out in
the low-carbon race.”
Through the Green Growth
Group, European ministers have
set out a clear vision for a
low-carbon, future calling for three
urgent EU priority actions:
• Agree an ambitious EU 2030
Energy and Climate Policy
Framework
• Reform the Structure of the EU’s
Emissions Trading System
• Ensure the EU is in a position to put
an ambitious emissions reduction
offer on the table at the Ban KiMoon-hosted World Leader’s
Climate Summit in autumn 2014.
The move by the Green Growth
Group has been welcomed by
UNFCCC Secretary General
Christiana Figueres, Commissioner
Hedegaard, EU business leaders,
investors and experts.
Connie Hedegaard, EU
Commissioner for Climate Action,
welcomed the initiative, saying:
“Europe is the living proof that there
is no contradiction between being
green and growing the economy.
Actually it is interesting that some
of our greenest member states in
Europe also are among those with
the most solid economies.”
Sustainable Community
Community-owned £1.1m solar
plant opens in Somerset
By GreenWeek staff
The sun is powering hundreds
of homes and businesses in a
Somerset village after completion
of a £1.1m community solar plant
funded mainly by local people.
More than 130 investors have
ploughed funds into Wedmore
Community Power Cooperative,
enabling it to install almost
4,000 solar panels in two new
paddocks just outside the village.
Most shareholders are from
the surrounding area, attracted
by a lower investment threshold
of £250 for local residents.
The 1MW solar power plant is
4 GreenWeek Nov 1, 2013
Wedmore community plant to go live
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