EU Barroso’s ‘radical pathways’ to cut emissions

Alejandro Litovsky

September 5, 2009

‘Radical’ is not the average qualifier for the European Commission’s President, Jose Manuel Barroso. Over the last two years, his efforts to align European countries behind ambitious climate targets have run into the inevitable stalemate and compromise.

But as Barroso unveils his new ‘manifesto’, intended to win the support of the Parliament for the renewal of his mandate, he argues that ”we need to start working now on a radical pathway to reach a far more sustainable Europe by 2020″, Reuters informs. Among the unveiled priorities are de-carbonizing Europe’s electricity supply and transport sector, including maritime transport and aviation, as well as the development of clean and electric cars.

Barroso already has the support of the member states, but needs the support of the parliament in order to win a vote of approval. The parliament, argues Pete Harrison, has consistently taken a greener approach than the EU’s 27 heads of state during negotiations over the last two years over EU energy reform and measures to curb pollution from cars and industry.

While the Green party’s support is important for securing Barroso’s vote of approval, environmental campaigners have received Barroso’s exhortations with caution. Joris den Blanken of Greenpeace thinks that ”many questions remain on how he is going to concretely put Europe’s economy on a sustainable pathway.” as there is no plan to reduce Europe’s depletion of natural resources like forests and fish.

The real test, however, is not about Barroso’s re-election, but whether the EU institutions can secure the level of results that we need in terms of sustainable development. Barroso is arguably paying some cosmetic service to his manifesto, ‘pitching’ a language of radical pathways to win the support of the greens, a prime example of the logic of electoral politics, which is the centerpiece of democratic systems. The short-term interests that govern the electoral 4-6 year cycles is perhaps the most important way in which democracy hinders sustainable development.

Even if Barroso is re-elected, the critical issue will be how, precisely, will he manage to deliver. A greener parliament is, sadly, no assurance of the long-term outcomes that are needed. The role of actors such as Greenpeace is essential to sustain the long-term interests on the table, but by no means are they enough. If real progress is to be made, democratic systems need to be able to support the long-term goals of sustainability; a difficult task when the systems are built around short-term negotiations. Transparency plays a key role, but new, proposals are needed for how democratic institutions can increase the voice of those concerned with a sustainable future.

Voice to the pioneers

As Volans works to help the future take flight, a key question for us is how to turn the volume up on the policy voice of pioneers. It is no news that a privileged access to politicians and policy-makers provides established carbon-intensive industries a powerful policy influence. This lobbying has a significant negative effect on democracy and on sustainable development; as not all voices are heard equally behind closed doors. Accelerating Europe’s transition to a low-carbon economy will therefore not only require bold strategies by governments, but also levels of political vision that go well beyond the politics-as-usual, and the ‘lobbying-as-usual’.

Most pioneers have have few agenda-setting resources and their policy ‘needs’ are well below-the-radar of the average law-maker. One example of how business pioneers are getting creative when it comes to amplifying their voice is the UK lobbying campaign ‘We Support Solar’, which resembles the advocacy strategies used by social movements, yet are driven by innovative companies such as Solarcentury. More of these alliances are needed to exploit the creative tensions between democracy, politics and sustainable development.

Barroso’s proposals include improving the energy interconnection between Europe and its neighbors, not least to guarantee Europe’s energy security. Here, technologies such as Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) could offer large-scale wins –even if they remain embryonic today, and creating and communicating the vision and knowledge of their ‘pathways to scale’ is essential.

As the EU parliament considers the support for Barroso’s next term, concrete ideas are needed on how his ‘radical pathways’ can be achieved. For example, in charting the way for increasing the inter-connection with its neighbors, the EU needs to engage more directly with African energy pioneers, such as New Energy Algeria, which are gearing up to supply renewable energy to the EU on a large-scale, and understand and learn from what it will take to make that a reality. The companies and investors betting on renewable energy markets have an important role to play in helping the EU become more nimble and effective as it carves a low-carbon future for itself.