madam president my thanks to mrs doyle for all her hard work
this morning president sarkozy said that compromise is the spirit of europe
well unfortunately i do not think that sentiment will be much of a consolation in just a few decades from now when people look back at two thousand and eight and ask themselves what on earth were politicians thinking about
knowing what they knew then why on earth did they not do more to save all of us from the unbearable impacts of a warming planet
why did they not act with more urgency and determination
i think that is a question we should be asking ourselves because the science is very clear that twenty emission reductions by twenty twenty is simply no way near ambitious enough to give us any serious likelihood of avoiding a two c temperature increase
and scandalously looking at the package as a whole well over half of that utterly inadequate emissions reduction could in any case be outsourced to developing countries
that is not only scientifically unsound it is also ethically wrong
meanwhile the emissions trading system is itself being turned into a windfall profit machine for europe's most polluting industries
instead of learning from the first phases of the ets we appear to be creating laws that would subsidise these industries and delay still further our transition to a more sustainable economy
so i am afraid i cannot share mr sarkozy's celebration of compromise not when that compromise is made up of countless corporate concessions which put the profits of industry literally before the liveability of this planet
not when that compromise means that sectors representing fully ninety-six of the non-power emissions are to be given one hundred free allocation of permits
not when that means the carbon price will be driven so low that there will be nothing like the necessary stimulus for investment in green energy alternatives
this is not a day for celebration it is a day to reflect on how much more is needed to generate the political will to stand a chance of avoiding the worst of climate chaos
and a day to reflect that yet another opportunity for real change has sadly been lost
