Combating the greenhouse effect
27.3.2015
Question for written answer E-004859-15
to the Council
Rule 130
Kostas Chrysogonos (GUE/NGL)
According to a recent study published in the magazine Nature,[1] Amazonian forests, which are an important carbon dioxide sink, are dying at an alarming rate, mainly due to the increase in carbon dioxide emissions.
In 1997 the global community adopted and in 2002 the EU ratified the Kyoto Protocol to the framework Convention on Climate Change, in which the parties undertook to combat climate change caused by increasing greenhouse gas emissions.
The Kyoto Protocol provides both for the parties to make separate undertakings and to cooperate to attain the objective of the Convention. The Convention on Climate Change makes similar provision. The Treaty on European Union also provides for the Union to protect its environment and to contribute to the sustainable development of the Earth (Article 3(5)).
In view of the above, will the Council say how it intends to help implement the provisions of Article 3(5) TEU in general and combat the greenhouse effect and the resultant reduction in global forests in particular?
- [1] Long-term decline of the Amazon carbon sink, Nature 519, pp. 344-348, available at http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v519/n7543/full/nature14283.html