EU and US meet to discuss energy and climate change

Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs met today with the speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, to discuss future cooperation between the US and the EU in the fields of energy and climate change.

Commissioner Piebalgs presented to the US delegation the recent EU energy package which includes ambitious targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and for share of renewables in the energy mix. “Climate change and energy security have put a new challenge in our transatlantic relation. Our cooperation is crucial to be successful with addressing these challenges”, said Commissioner Piebalgs.

During the discussion, Piebalgs underlined the importance of continuing to exchange views regularly and coordinate strategies between the US and the EU in the international arena. He also underlined the need of developing renewable energy sources together with clean coal technologies and Carbon Sequestration and Storage (CSS) as key instruments to drastically reduce greenhouse emissions and combat climate change.

Commissioner Piebalgs also presented the Action Plan on Energy Efficiency of 2006 that includes measures to achieve our goal of saving 20% of primary energy consumption by 2020. In this context, the Commissioner presented the project of an International Framework Agreement on Energy Efficiency to bring together the OECD countries and key developing countries such as China and India to agree on common approaches on saving energy, and ask for US support from the very beginning to move this initiative forward.

Ensuring security of energy supply, developing competitive markets and meeting the environmental challenges are at the top of the EU and US political agendas. In 2006, the EU and the US have agreed to develop a strategic energy cooperation which will contribute to increased regional stability, greater security of supply and finally, new business opportunities. The dialogue with the US is part of the EU external policy to serve Europe’s energy interests. Energy efficiency is one of the areas of cooperation within the framework of the EU-US Strategic Energy Cooperation we established at the EU-US Summit in Vienna in June 2006.