WWF report calls on EU to prioritise climate change policies
The European Commission is encouraged to focus on change in climate and biodiversity risks across the economy
The WWF report recommends re-organising the tax system around the polluter-pays principle, re-focusing on public and private financing on sustainable infrastructure, a permanent resolution for the EU carbon market and tackling the decline of natural resources such as fish stocks.
The report From crisis to opportunity: Five steps to sustainable European economies, which was released the same week as the finance ministers in Brussels met to discuss investment plans and policies, focuses on more than 400 separate studies from the UN, the OECD, the World Bank, McKinsey, Lord Stern, and the EU Commission itself, which make the case for a greener economy.
The meeting discussed Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker's €315bn (£223bn) investment plan and argued that policies on resource efficiency could deliver €300bn (£213bn) to help boost the European economy and tackle security and environmental risks.
The report also illustrates various studies highlighting how failure to tackle climate change and environmental issues lead to further costs for the EU, air pollution costs approximately €537bn (£381bn) a year and the importation of raw materials costs the EU €500bn (£355bn) a year.
WWF economist and author of the report, Said Sébastien Godinot said: "Instead of the short-term ‘grow dirty and clean up later’ flawed narrative, President Juncker and EU leaders should look at the real symptoms of our troubled economies: diminishing natural resources and markets failing to take this into account. It's simple: no economy can develop without natural resources”.
He continued: "Sustainable economies can bring huge benefits worth much more than Juncker's Investment Plan every year and provide up to 20 million jobs by 2020. How? Largely by using fewer resources and less energy, fixing market failures and protecting nature in Europe".
From crisis to opportunity: Five steps to sustainable European economies report suggests five aspects that the EU should be prioritising in order to enhance the sustainability of the EU’s Economy: establishing a new strategic vision through to 2050; designing an ambitious energy and climate framework through to 2030; delivering an "enabling framework" for resource efficiency; building a more supportive fiscal framework; and restoring the EU's position as an international leader on the green economy.