the commission has actually already responded to similar written questions from the honourable member mr ziobro on the cost of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the european union by twenty twenty and on the question of carbon leakage back in march and april twenty ten
the eu has managed to decouple its economic growth from its emissions
eu gdp has increased by forty-five since nineteen ninety while emissions have been reduced by thirteen and that includes twenty ten figures meaning that was after we exited the crisis
over the same period the european union manufacturing industry grew by more than thirty
these figures show that continued growth can go hand in hand with reducing emissions
for instance it is actually estimated that between two thousand and five and two thousand and nine five hundred and fifty zero new jobs were provided by the renewable energy industry alone
firstly with regard to carbon leakage the commission would like to stress that in the latest amendment of the ets directive the european parliament and the council have decided to tackle this issue by allocating a higher share of free allowances for sectors and subsectors deemed to be at a significant risk of carbon leakage
the commission's analysis published back in may last year confirmed that free allocation is an effective means to address the potential risk of carbon leakage
moreover the risks for carbon leakage have been reduced further since now more than eighty countries amongst which all emerging economies are implementing the pledges they committed to in copenhagen and are implementing their domestic targets
i must say that the commission has no evidence that companies are moving their production outside the eu due to climate policy
secondly the european commission has assessed in detail the costs and benefits of co emission reductions on the european economy in the framework of the climate and energy package agreed back in two thousand and eight
more recent analysis conducted in twenty ten shows that the costs of meeting the twenty greenhouse gas reduction target have fallen by at least one third compared to the analysis made in two thousand and eight
now they are estimated at eur forty-eight billion which represents zero point three two of the projected twenty twenty gdp
having said that it should also be mentioned that some of these investments will come back in for instance saved oil expenditure
in developing the climate and energy package the commission has taken due account of the different circumstances in the member states in terms of economic development wealth and energy mix
in addition the climate and energy package contains three specific mechanisms to balance overall costs across member states so that efforts are shared in a fair and equitable manner
