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the “MidCat” pipeline between Algeria and
Catalonia, another with Azerbaijan, the Euro-
Asia Interconnector linking Greek and Israeli
power grids with Europe, the NSN link between
Norway and Great Britain and a similar connec-
tion between Spain and France that cuts
through the Pyrenees.
The strategy’s critics have labelled it as noth-
ing but a rehash of an old familiar story: once
again public funds are being used to facilitate
and ensure the profitability of large energy com-
panies to the end that Europeans are more de-
pendent than ever on fossils fuels –a highly pol-
luting, finite source of energy with a volatile
market value that must be purchased from
countries whose governments do not earn top
grades when it comes to transparency. They also
note that public investment on such a massive
scale has never been devoted renewable ener-
gies, which, in contrast, require natural resourc-
es that are not only in abundant in Europe but
inexhaustible and, to date, completely free as
well. It must be kept in mind that the EU imports
53 % of the energy it uses. It relies on imports
for 90 % of the oil, 66 % of the gas natural and
42 % of the coal it consumes. EU energy imports
cost approximately
€
400 billion in 2013.
European climate change policy, the Paris
agreement and COP21
2015 was the year of the fight against climate
change in Europe. As previously mentioned, the
twenty-first Conference of the Parties (COP21)
of the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC) met in December
2015. The most important outcome of this
meeting was the approval of the Paris
Agreement, which has been adopted by 197
countries party to the Convention.
By means of this agreement, member coun-
tries collectively pledge to drastically reduce
their greenhouse emissions so as to maintain
any rise in the average global temperature that
occurs during this century well within the target
of 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels
and to furthermore make every possible effort
to limit such increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Nevertheless, the agreement does not specify
precise levels to be achieved or a set schedule
for this reduction. It was agreed in Paris that
each country would present a national climate
change plan detailing its priority actions on this
issue and a schedule for measures it intends to
implement. Furthermore, all countries must
communicate long-term decarbonisation plans
by 2020. Prior to the drafting of the EU strategy,
the Commission will conduct an in-depth analy-
sis of the economic and social transformations
that it will suppose to facilitate a debate on the
topic in the European Parliament, Council and
with stakeholders. To ensure that global objec-
tives established in the Paris Agreement are
achieved, the Conference of the Convention
will periodically review national plans submit-
ted, identify measures that must be taken to
improve countries’ performances and make rec-
ommendations regarding the amplification of
the scope of their ambitions. Each country’s pro-
gress will be documented and tracked. In the
case that the overall goal of containing the rise
of global temperature within the bounds agreed
upon is not being met, additional measures will
be developed as needed.
The European Union had formally approved
its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution
(INDC) several months earlier in March 2015.
This commitment reiterated targets established
in the climate and energy framework packet ap-
proved in October 2014 (Conclusions of the
European Council 23-24 October 2014). The EU