Sommaire: 29 May 2008, Brussels - Climate change is a threat not just to the environment, but to peace and security as states compete for resources. That was the stark warning by Kofi Annan at a conference hosted by parliament's Energy Committee on Tuesday. He was joined by Mikhail Gorbachev and EP President Hans-Gert Pöttering. German Christian Democrat Angelika Niebler - who chaired the meeting - stressed the need for not just Europe, but the wider international community to invest massively in technology.
The conference, organised by the Industry, Research and Energy Committee and the Energy Globe Foundation - was intended to raise awareness of problems and publicise best practices.
Annan: "It's about whether we can change ourselves"
Kofi Annan told gathered MEPs that climate change should join "traditional political threats like conflict, poverty, terrorism and deadly weapons". Quoting UK scientist Nicholas Stern he said it could lead to a contraction in the global economy by 20% and lead to economic and social destruction comparable to the two World Wars.
The former UN Secretary General and Nobel Prize winner said that with current trends we are heading to the point of no return. He added, "if we continue consuming energy at the rate we do today, then by 2030 we will need 50% more. I hope we are not going to do that."
Mr Annan's message did contain some optimistic notes. He said that better use of fossil fuels and more use of renewable sources of energy could point the way to a better future. "Let no one say we can avoid acting. It costs far less to cut emissions now than to deal with the consequences later. Low emissions do not have to mean low growth." Calling for a change in behaviour Mr Annan said "it is not about politicians or social behaviour, it's about whether we can change ourselves fast enough.
Individuals and businesses need to change their behaviour."
Gorbachev calls for green glasnost
Former Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev told the conference that his personal experience on the Ukrainian Steppes as a boy had shown him how once fertile land could be wiped clean by drought and dust storms. He also said that his experience as Soviet Agriculture Minister had shown him how much damage was being done to the environment - but this remained hidden through secrecy.
Mr Gorbachev called for an environmental glasnost as "glasnost involves people and transparency and the mobilisation of the government and the people". However, he issued a stern warning about the need for wealthier countries to help developing ones meet the challenges that climate change will bring: "if we act towards developing countries as other nations did towards Russia in the perestroika period there will be catastrophe" he told the audience. In his view the Soviet Union and later Russia
was abandoned by Western Europe at the time.
Gorbachev said that "we live in a global world and in a global world we need to work together - the environmental crisis is the no. 1 challenge".
Angelika Niebler invoked the European Union's own environmental targets to be met by 2020 and said that "we want to make sure there are no losers. We can only do it if we invest massively in innovative technology", particularly transport policy. Ms Niebler welcomed the presence of people from outside the Union saying "it is good to have non-EU countries present as Europe cannot do it alone."
Also addressing the conference was EP president Hans-Gert Pöttering. He told guests that "many of our creative efforts concentrate on reducing CO2 and renewable energies, but we fail to concentrate on that which is the most accessible to us: energy saving. That is the cheapest and easiest way to lower greenhouse emissions."
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