EU President Meets On Energy And Climate Change

President Barroso meets his Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change

President Barroso will meet today with his high level Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change to discuss forthcoming challenges on climate change, including the UN Ministerial meeting in Bali on 3 December.

Speaking in advance of the meeting, President Barroso said, "The EU remains firmly committed to, and will meet, its Kyoto targets. But we now need to look beyond 2012. The European Union has already put its cards on the table. Our targets are known, our commitments are clear. I am determined that the EU will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to at least 20% below 1990 levels by 2020.

The Commission is currently working on the specific proposals which will enable the EU to meet these targets. We are ready to go further, to a 30% reduction, if there is a fair and effective global agreement for the post 2012 period. Today's meeting gives me a chance to discuss with leading experts what we are planning to do to meet our internal targets as well as discussing our strategy ahead of the Bali meeting."

The High Level Group will meet at the Conference entitled "The Global Challenge of Energy and Climate Change: The EU Vision for a Sustainable Future after 2012" at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, in Lisbon. The Conference will be open to academics, high level public administration, and specialized media.

Background

In March 2007, the Commission's President, José Manuel Durão Barroso, invited high level and world renowned experts, drawn from a range of different countries and disciplines, to be part of an Advisory Group for Energy and Climate Change to provide him with independent advice. The group has met twice, in March in Brussels and in June in Berlin.

The Spring European Council unanimously approved a European integrated strategy for energy and climate change. The Commission has already tabled a number of legislative proposals on 19 September to create a genuine internal market for energy. The next round of legislative proposals will be presented in January. The Commission welcomes the UN High Level Event in New York as an important step towards an ambitious result being achieved at the UN Ministerial in Bali on 3 December.

The Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change

MEMO/07/92
Brussels, 6 March 2007

The President of the European Commission has decided to establish an Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change, consisting of 11 personalities, all with very high public profiles in the area of energy and climate change.

The Group's task will be to advise the President on the nexus of energy and climate change, starting with a first meeting today - two days ahead of the Spring European Council. The group will meet in future to discuss wider issues, such as the legislative proposals stemming from the energy package adopted on 10 January 2007, and future G8 meetings on energy and climate change.

The Group will be asked to look at different options facing Europe in terms of future energy policy, based on the adopted energy package. The work will be carried out in cooperation with the Commission's Bureau of European Policy Advisers and bring valuable expertise from outside the Commission.

Prof. Claudia Kemfert,
DIW (the German Institute for Economic Research), Berlin

Prof. Dr. Claudia Kemfert studied Economics at Bielefeld and Oldenburg University, Germany. She finished her Ph.D. after a research stay at Stanford University in 1997 at Oldenburg University about "Macroeconomic Effects of Environmental Policy Instruments". 1998 she was engaged at Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM). From January 1999 to April 2000 she worked as a group leader at IER (Institute of Energy Economics and the Rational Use of Energy, Stuttgart University). From 2000 until 2004 she headed the research group SPEED at Oldenburg University, Germany concentrating on the quantitative evaluation of economic impacts by environmental and energy policies at national and international level.

Since April 2004 she is the director of the Department "Energy, Transport and Environment" at the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin. She is Professor of Economic at Humboldt University, Berlin. She headed several projects on the investigation of energy and environmental policies at national, European and international level. She is active within the EMF and EFIEA group of modelling and the European Climate Forum ECF. She teaches micro-, macro- and environmental economics at Oldenburg University, Germany, Siena University, Italy and Moscow University at the New Economic School (NES), Russia. She works as an external expert for the World Bank and the United Nations. Her research focus concentrates on the evaluation of economic and environmental impacts of environmental and energy policies at national and international level assessed by economic and econometric modelling methods.

Mr Allan Larsson, Chairman of the Board, University of Lund, Sweden

Allan Larsson served as Finance Minister of Sweden between 1990 and 1991. He has also served as Director General of the National Labour Market Board, as Member of the Swedish Parliament, and as Member of the Board of Governors of the Central Bank. During his time in the Parliament he was appointed Chairman of the European Employment Initiative. He remained an MP until he was appointed Director General in the European Commission in Brussels, responsible for employment and social affairs. He was in charge of the preparation and implementation of the European Employment Strategy. After retiring as Director General he served as Chairman of the Board of Swedish Television and chairman of the Transatlantic Dialogue on Broadcasting and Information Society. He was member of the OECD Round Table on Sustainable Development in Paris.

Mr. Larsson is currently an adviser to the Director General of the ILO in Geneva. Since 2001 he is member of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's High Level Panel on Youth Employment. He is also a member of the ETUC Reflection Group on Economic Policy and Employment in Brussels.

Mr. Larsson made a professional career in journalism and media, economic research, national politics and in public administration in Sweden and in the European Union. He worked for several national newspapers, as editor-in-chief of a weekly magazine and news reporter at Swedish Television. In the 1970s he was Head of the Research Department of the Swedish Metal Workers Union, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Labour and consultant to the Swedish Steel Company, SSAB.

Mr Claude Mandil, International Energy Agency, Paris, France

Mr Mandil is currently serving a four-year term as Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, based in Paris. This post climaxes his commitment to international cooperation in energy affairs, in parallel with his career as a distinguished French civil servant. While serving as Director General for Energy and Raw Materials at the Ministry of Industry, Post and Telecommunications 1990 -1998, Mr Mandil was instrumental in arranging for France to become a member of the IEA in 1991 and served as the IEA Governing Board Chairman from 1997 to 1998. During this time he also represented France at the Nuclear Safety Working Group of the G7, 1991-1998.

Before joining the IEA in 2003, Mr Mandil was Chairman and CEO of the Institut Français du Pétrole and, previous to that, Managing Director of Gaz de France. Earlier posts have included Director General of Bureau of Mines and Geology (BGRM) 1988-1990; CEO of the Institute for Industrial Development (IDI) 1983-1988; and Technical Advisor in the French Prime Minister's cabinet, 1981- 1982. Mr Mandil is a graduate of France's Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole des Mines.

Professor Carlo Rubbia, CERN (Nobel Prize Laureate Physics 1984), Geneva, Switzerland

Carlo Rubbia was born in Gorizia, Italy, on 31st March 1934. He graduated at Scuola Normale in Pisa, where he completed his University education with a thesis on Cosmic Ray Experiments. He has been working at CERN since 1961. In 1976, he suggested adapting CERN's Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) to collide protons and antiprotons in the same ring and the world's first antiproton factory was built. The collider started running in 1981 and, in early 1983, an international team of more than 100 physicists headed by Rubbia and known as the UA1 Collaboration, detected the intermediate vector bosons. In 1984 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.

Carlo Rubbia has served as Director-General of CERN from January 1989 till December 1993.

From 1970 to December 1988 Rubbia has spent one semester per year at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was Higgins Professor of Physics..

From 1986 to 1994 he has been the President of Sincrotrone Trieste (Synchrotron Light Radiation Source).

Rubbia has also been one of the leaders in a collaboration effort based in the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory designed to detect any sign of decay of the proton. The experiment seeks evidence that would disprove the conventional belief whereby matter is stable. The experiment, known as ICARUS and based on a new technique of electronic detection of ionizing events in ultra-pure liquid Argon, is aiming at the direct detection of the neutrinos emitted from the Sun, a first rudimentary neutrino telescope to explore neutrino signals of cosmic nature.

More recently he proposed the concept of an Energy Amplifier - a novel and safe way of producing nuclear energy exploiting present-day accelerator technologies, which is actively being studied world-wide in order to incinerate high activity waste from accelerators and to produce energy from natural thorium. The energy resources potentially deriving from these fuels will be practically unlimited and comparable to those from Fusion.

His research activities are presently concentrated on the problem of Energy supply for the future, with particular focus on the development of new technologies for renewable energy sources.

Honorary Degrees

University of Geneva (Switzerland), 1983

Carnegie Mellon University (U.S.A.), 1985

University of Genoa (Italy), 1985

University of Udine (Italy), 1985

University of La Plata (Argentina), 1986

Northwestern University (U.S.A.), 1986

University of Camerino (Italy), 1987

University of Chicago (U.S.A.), 1987

Loyola University (U.S.A.), 1987

Boston University (U.S.A.), 1988

University of Sofia (Bulgaria), 1990

University of Moscow (USSR), 1991

University of Chile, Santiago, 1991

Polytechnic University of Madrid, 1992

University of Padova ( 1992)

Technical University of Rio de Janeiro (1993)

University of Trieste (1994)

University of Oxford (1994)

Catholic University of Lima, Peru (1994)

National University of St. Antonio Abad of Cusco, Peru (1994)

University of Bordeaux (1998)

University of Haute Savoie (1999)

St. John's University, Rome (2003)

Università di Torino (2004)

University of Aachen (2004)

Honours

He has received numerous honours amongst which: the Italian "Cavaliere di Gran Croce" (Knight Grand Cross) in 1985 and the French "Officier de la Légion d'Honneur" in 1989. At the conclusion of his mandate as Director General of CERN in 1993, he received the Polish Order of Merit.

He is member of 27 Academies, among which :

The Accademia dei Lincei

The Accademia dei XL

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences

The Pontifical Academy of Sciences

The Austrian Academy of Sciences

The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Artsthe Royal Society, Foreign Member

The Polish Academy of Sciences, Foreign Member

The Royal Society (foreign Member)

The American. National Academy of Sciences, Foreign Member

The Russian Academy of Sciences, Foreign Member

The European Academy of Sciences

Prof. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, CMG,
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Germany

Born in 1950 in Ortenburg (Germany). Training in physics and mathematics with a scholarship for the exceptionally gifted at the University of Regensburg. Doctorate in Theoretical Physics in 1980. Various periods of research abroad, in particular at several institutions of the University of California system (USA). Habilitation (German qualification for professorial status) in 1985, then Heisenberg Fellowship. 1989 Full Professor at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Marine and Environmental Sciences (ICBM) at the University of Oldenburg, later Director of the ICBM.

1991 Founding Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK); since 1993 Director of PIK and Professor for Theoretical Physics at the University of Potsdam. 2001-2005 additional engagement as Research Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and Professor at the Environmental Sciences School of the University of East Anglia in Norwich (UK). Distinguished Science Advisor for the Tyndall Centre since 2005.

2002 Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award; 2004 CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) awarded by Queen Elizabeth II. Elected Member of the Max Planck Society, the US National Academy of Sciences, the Leibniz-Sozietät, the Geological Society of London, and the International Research Society Sigma Xi. Ambassador for the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP). Visiting Professor in Physics, Honorary Member of the Christ Church College High Table, and Senior James Martin Fellow at Oxford University.

Active service on some dozen national and international panels for scientific strategies and policy advice on environment & development matters. Inter alia, Vice-Chair of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU), Chair of the Global Change Advisory Group for the 6th Framework Programme of the European Commission and Member of the corresponding panel for FP7, Member of the Scientific Board of the Dahlem Conferences, Member of the Committee on Scientific Planning and Review of the International Council for Science (ICSU), Member of the Board of the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI). Chief Government Advisor on climate and related issues for the German G8-EU twin presidency in 2007.

Member of the Editorial Boards of the scientific journals " "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" Climatic Change", "Climate Policy", "Gaia", "Integrated Assessment", and "Systems Analysis, Modelling, Simulation".

About 190 articles and about 40 books in the fields of condensed matter physics, complex systems dynamics, climate change research, Earth System analysis, and sustainability science.

Sir Nicholas Stern, HM Treasury, London, United Kingdom

Sir Nicholas Stern, FBA (born 22 April 1946) is a British economist and academic. He was the Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President of the World Bank from 2000 to 2003, and is now a civil servant and government economic advisor in the United Kingdom.

After attending Latymer Upper School, he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics at Peterhouse, Cambridge, and his Doctor of Philosophy in economics at Nuffield College, Oxford. He was a lecturer at Cambridge University from 1970 to 1977, and served as a Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick from 1978 to 1987. He taught from 1986 to 1993 at the London School of Economics, becoming the Sir John Hicks Professor of Economics. From 1994 until 1999 he was the Chief Economist and Special Counsellor to the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. His research focused on economic development and growth, and he also wrote books on Kenya and the Green Revolution in India.

After his time working for the World Bank, Stern was recruited by Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown to work for the British government where, in 2003, he became second permanent secretary at H.M. Treasury, initially with responsibility for public finances, and head of the Government Economic Service. Having also been Director of Policy and Research for the Commission for Africa, he was, in July 2005, appointed to conduct reviews on the economics of climate change and also of development, which led to the publication of the Stern Review. He ceased to be a second permanent secretary at the Treasury though he retains the rank; the review team he heads is based in the Cabinet Office. In December 2006 it was announced that he would be returning to the London School of Economics in June 2007 as a professor, and head of LSE's Indian Observatory and Asia Research Centre.

Mr Peter Sutherland, KCMG, BP plc, London, United Kingdom

Mr Sutherland is Chairman of BP plc (1997 - current). He is also Chairman of Goldman Sachs International (1995 - current). He is currently UN Special Representative for Migration and Development.

Of Irish nationality he was born on 25 April 1946 and was educated at Gonzaga College, University College Dublin and the King's Inns. Mr. Sutherland graduated in Civil Law. He was also admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States of America. From 1969 to 1981 he practised at the Bar. He is a Bencher of the Middle Temple, London and is an Honorary Bencher of the King's Inns.

In addition to his Chairmanships listed above he also serves on the Board of Directors of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc and is associated with the following organisations:

Trilateral Commission (Europe) Chairman
World Economic Forum, Foundation Board Member
Chief Executive's Council of International Advisers, Hong Kong, Member
The Federal Trust, President
European Policy Centre Advisory Council, President
European Round Table of Industrialists, Vice-Chairman
The Royal Irish Academy, Member
Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation
Prior to his current position, Mr Sutherland served as:

Attorney General of Ireland (1981-1984)
EC Commissioner responsible for Competition Policy (1985-1989)
Chairman of Allied Irish Banks (1989-1993)
Director General of The World Trade Organisation, formerly GATT (1993-1995)
His awards include an honorary Knighthood (UK 2004), the Gold Medal of the European Parliament (1988), the First European Law Prize (Paris 1988), The David Rockefeller International Leadership Award (1998), the Grand Cross of Civil Merit (Spain 1989), the Grand Cross of King Leopold II (Belgium 1989), the New Zealand Commemorative Medal (1990), Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur (France 1993) Commandeur du Wissam (Morocco 1994) the Order of Rio Branco (Brazil 1996) and the Grand Cross of the Order of Infante Dom Henrique (Portugal 1998). He was also presented with the Robert Schuman Medal for his work for European Integration. Furthermore, he received the European Person of the Year Award (1988), the Irish People of the Year Award (1989), the Consumer for World Trade Annual Award (1994) for distinguished service, and the Dean's Medal (1996) from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

He has received fourteen honorary doctorates from universities in Europe and America. He was awarded an honorary fellowship of the London Business School in recognition of his contribution to business and trade (1997).

His publications include the book 'Premier Janvier 1993 ce qui va changer en Europe' (1989) and numerous articles in law journals. He Chaired the Committee that reported to the EEC Commission on the functioning of the Internal Market after 1992 (The Sutherland Report).

Mr Sutherland is married and has three children. His leisure interests include reading and sport.

Professor Viriato Soromenho-Marques, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

Viriato Soromenho-Marques (1957) teaches Political Philosophy and Philosophy of History in the Department of Philosophy of the University of Lisbon, where he is Full Professor and was the Executive Chair of the Department (1999-2002). Currently he coordinates a post-graduation course on Philosophy of Nature and Environment and teaches History of Ideas and Environment Public policies at the graduation course on European Studies at the same University.

Since 1978 he has been engaged in the civic environmental movement in Portugal and Europe. He was Chairman of Quercus (1992-1995), and representative of the Portuguese environmental NGOs in the Economic and Social Council (1992-1996). In May 1998 he was elected member of the new created National Council on Environment and Sustainable Development. He is member of the international Society for Ecological Economics, of the American Political Science Association, and is the Portuguese correspondent of the German organization Ecologic. He served as Vice-Chair of the European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils (EEAC) network during three two-year terms (2001-2006). In the first semester of 2004 he was invited by the Portuguese Prime-Minister to be one of the six authors of the Portuguese National Strategy for Sustainable Development. In 1997 he received from the Presidency of the Portuguese Republic the degree of «Grande Oficial da Ordem do Mérito Civil» and in 2006 the degree of «Grande Oficial da Ordem do Infante Dom Henrique». In November 2006 he was invited by the Gulbenkian Foundation to become the scientific coordinator of the Gulbenkian Environment Programme.

He was the representative of public opinion in the Press Council (1985-1987). He is a regular contributor to some Portuguese mass media, particularly, the Jornal de Letras, Visão, Rádio Renascença, the public television network (RTP) and the Portuguese and Brazilian Sections of the BBC.

He wrote over two hundred and fifty works on Philosophy, Environment and International Relations matters. He was speaker in six hundred conferences in Portugal and nineteen other countries. Among other books, he was the author of the following titles: Tragic Thought and Nihilism in Nietzsche (1984); Europe: The Risk of the Future (1985); Europe: Maze or Common House (1993); Back to Earth: Ecological Awareness and Environmental Policy (1994); Policy, Politics and History in Kant (1995); The Era of Citizenship: From Machiavelli to Jefferson (1996); Environment and the Future: The Portuguese Case Study (1996); Our Fragile Future: The Challenges of Global Environmental Crisis (1998); Reason and Progress in Kant's Philosophy (1998); Ecology and Ideology (1999), The Federal Revolution. Political Philosophy and Constitutional Debate in the American Founding Era (2002), The Federalist, from Hamilton, Madison and Jay (translation in co-operation with João Duarte) (2003), The Challenge of Water Policy in 21st Century. Between Conflict and Cooperation, coordination (2003).The Art of Winning, introduction to two military writings from Frederick the Great (2005), Portuguese National Strategy for Sustainable Development: 2005-2015, in co-operation with 5 other authors (2005), Metamorphoses. Between Breakdown and Sustainable Development (2005), Citizenship and European Construction, coordination (2005).

Michael Zammit Cutajar, Ambassador on Climate Change, Malta

A citizen of Malta, born in 1940, Michael Zammit Cutajar has devoted most of his career to work in and around the United Nations on international cooperation for development and environment. He headed the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change from its launch in 1991 until early 2002, holding the rank of Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Since then, he has continued to participate in the international dialogue among governments - and between them and the business community - on climate change and the development of the carbon market. He chairs an independent advisory group for the World Bank's Community Development Carbon Fund, whose objective is to promote investment in carbon-saving development projects in poor communities in developing countries.

Mr. Zammit Cutajar advises the Government of Malta on environmental issues and represents it as ambassador in international negotiations on climate change. In this capacity, he chaired in 2006 the Ad Hoc Working Group on further commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol

ENDS

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