EU can’t afford to step down as climate leader: Think tank

(EurActiv, 14 Nov 2013) Europe's abdication from climate leadership would stunt growth in the region and hand a huge economic advantage to China and the United States as they carve out their share of a multi-billion low-carbon market, a German think tank said today (14 November).

The report's release coincides with UN climate talks running until the end of next week.

They are hosted by Poland, one of the EU member states to have embraced the counter-argument that the European Union should be only a part of, not the leader of global climate efforts and that acting alone will damage competitiveness.

Germanwatch , a think tank used by German government ministries to carry out research, says such a shift would only harm Europe's ailing industrial sector and it is no longer true to say the European Union is an isolated environmental leader.

Already China's solar equipment exports are worth almost as much as its exports of shoes, making it a major threat to EU technology. In 2011, China's solar exports totalled $35.8 billion (€26.6 billion) compared with $39 billion (€29 billion) for shoes, UN data showed.

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EurActiv, 14 Nov 2013: EU can’t afford to step down as climate leader: Think tank