MEPs seek to shrink assembly’s carbon footprint

The leaders of the European Parliament’s Liberal Democrat and Green MEPs are calling for an initiative to cut the assembly’s energy use and improve energy efficiency.

Both Graham Watson, leader of Liberal Democrat group, and Monica Frassoni, joint president of the Greens/EFA, want the mandate of the Parliament’s working group on reform to be extended to look into reducing its carbon footprint.

"We need to see real commitment across the house to take serious and practical steps to reducing our carbon footprint," said Watson. He added that the reform working group, which is currently looking at ways to improve the Parliament’s effectiveness and raise its profile, should look at all areas of the Parliament’s energy use. This should include "paper use, light bulbs, heating and means of travel", Watson said.

Frassoni made minimising the Parliament’s environmental impact one of her four priorities when she stood for president of Parliament against the eventual winner, German centre-right MEP Hans-Gert Pöttering. She said back in January: "As a high-profile public institution, the European Parliament should set an example in terms of environmental protection and the fight against climate change." This meant "cutting down wastage, improving efficiency and choosing renewable energy" as well as eliminating unnecessary travel, she said.

Parliament sources said that pushing the reform group to look at the assembly’s environmental impact might be a backdoor way of putting the issue of the Strasbourg seat on the agenda. Any analysis of the Parliament’s carbon emissions would inevitably highlight the additional plane and lorry journeys needed to get MEPs, their staff and documents to the Alsatian capital.

"The obvious target would be the monthly commute between the seats but I am not sure they [the reform working group] would be able to touch that hot potato", said one Parliament insider.

The leaders of the European Parliament’s Liberal Democrat and Green MEPs are calling for an initiative to cut the assembly’s energy use and improve energy efficiency.