Climate Change

INTRODUCTION

Climate change is one of the main challenges facing the world at the moment, and as a result it has become a priority for the varying world organisations including the EU. This essay will first cover what climate change is and how mankind is affecting it and the issues and problems arising from it, I will then go on to assess how the EU plans to combat climate change through their environmental and climate change policies and as a result the implications for, experience of and views of Irish based business interests. I will do this by analysing how the EU implements its policies through their Environment Action Progrmmes, the European Climate Change Programme (ECCP), the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) and their adherence to the Kyoto Protocol. I will examine the programmes separately highlighting the key areas of these and how they plan to achieve the targets set out upon, as well as the reasoning behind each programme and how they will aid in achieving their aims as well as benefiting the EU in the future. The formulation and history of some of these policies are also assessed. I will then move forward onto a selection of Irish based business interests, such as the government’s integration of the policies, unions and the differing industries. Their approaches, experiences and positions on these issues since the policies were introduced will be analysed and reviewed along with any developments and changes in priorities due to the economic downturn.

CLIMATE CHANGE

There are many ways to describe climate change and what it does, with varying definitions but I believe this to be the most relevant “a change in global or regional climate patterns, in particular a change apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards and attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels.” (OxfordDictionaries, 2012) Climate change used to occur naturally with patterns shifting due to evolution and changes in nature but ever since the industrial revolution and especially since the 20th century man has had a greater effect on it, with a 41% rise in the carbon dioxide in our atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution. (Europa, 2012) (Environ, 2012) The Greenhouse effect has been greatly enhanced due to human activities, with a combination of increasing greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and deforestation resulting in a reduction in carbon dioxide absorption as well putting more back into the atmosphere, leading to warming the climate. Due to our reliance on fossil fuels such as coal oil and gas carbon dioxide is responsible for 63% of man-made global warming. (Europa, 2012)

There are many reasons why climate change is such an important issue and why the EU is trying to reduce man’s effect on the atmosphere. With temperatures rising the world’s oceans are also heating up and as a result the