Opening of the High level conference on Clean Energy in the EP in Brussels. Statements by Antonio TAJANI, EP President, Jyrki KATAINEN, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, Jerry BROWN, Governor of California, Werner HOYER, President of the European Investment Bank.

Brussels

TAJANI, Antonio (EPP, IT)

conference

statement

renewable energy (T)

KATAINEN, Jyrki (FI, EC)

energy union (T)

HOYER, Werner (DE)

BROWN, Jerry

fight against climate change (T)

High level conference on Clean Energy: extracts from the opening statements

Atmosphere shots before the start of the conference (8 shots)

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Antonio TAJANI, EP President, Our experience here in Europe shows that it is not only desirable but essential to reconcile environmental and industrial considerations. Without a strong industrial base, no genuine responses can be found to the challenges of climate change, air and water quality, waste management and population growth.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jyrki KATAINEN, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, SOUNDBITE (EN), Jyrki KATAINEN, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, At the EU level, an extra 177 billion Euros is needed annually from 2021 onwards to reach the 2030 Climate and Energy goals. And everybody understands that there will never be enough public resources available to achieve this goal.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jerry BROWN, Governor of California, This is one of the few existential threats that will determine our future and not in a hundred years, much sooner than that.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jerry BROWN, Governor of California, We can continue bringing down emissions from our vehicles, trucks, as well as cars and we can introduce at an increasing speed electric vehicles. And in that effort, the commitment of China to require a fixed and growing percentage of electric cars on the part of European, American and other automobile companies means there is no turning back.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jerry BROWN, Governor of California, We live in a world that has been created by oil, gas and coal. Fossil fuels have shaped our very civilization and now we have to completely transform to a zero carbon world and we have to do it faster than most people are probably thinking about. 2050 is too late. We have to do it quicker and we get to zero, then we have to extract carbon out of the environment. We have to get to minus, and we had to get there a lot faster.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jerry BROWN, Governor of California, So my message is very simple: we can do it, we are not doing it yet, but if we come together and we see the truth of our situation, we can overcome it. We fought great battles before and I hope that the European Union will be able to inspire the rest of the world.

SOUNDBITE (English), Werner HOYER, President of the European Investment Bank, All public money in the world will not be enough to help us reach these goals. We need to mobilise the private sector and its resources in order to achieve these great objectives. And this requires a crowding in capacity that I may dare say: nobody has more than the EU bank.