News & Views item - March 2007

 

 

What do You Think About the French Proposal to Treat Nuclear Energy on Equal Terms With Renewable Energies? (March 15, 2007)

    The journal  Nature asked Germany's former Minister for the Environment, Klaus Töpfer, a member of the centre right Christian Democratic Union, "What do you think about the French proposal to treat nuclear energy on equal terms with renewable energies?"

 

And his response?

Whether or not to use nuclear energy to achieve the target must be the sovereign responsibility of each member state. This is also the EU's position, and it is a very wise decision. [But] increasing nuclear's share in a way that it would make a real contribution to substituting use of fossil energy would vastly increase political, safety and resource issues. We have to do our utmost to invent a nuclear-free energy supply structure.

 

And then later:

Which concrete measures — technological, political and regulatory — are needed to make sure the EU can achieve the goals agreed on [to cut overall greenhouse-gas emissions by at least 20% by 2020, compared with 1990 levels. And these cuts would rise to 30% if the United States and other industrialized countries were to commit themselves to 'comparable' emissions cuts after 2012, and if large developing countries including China contribute 'adequately']?

 

 

With regards to technology, we need a revolution in energy efficiency. Energy efficiency is a chance to achieve a short-term, high return on investments to reduce energy intensity. And this is going over the whole range of energy demand, from buildings to mobility to electrical goods. In political terms, these positive, far-reaching results should pave the way for a Kyoto follow-up beyond 2012. As far as the regulatory framework is concerned, the most important thing is the need to internalize the costs of carbon dioxide in the energy price of fossil fuels.