Closer cooperation between European countries and
an emphasis on energy efficiency would be more effective at lowering
prices in Europe than dreams about an American-style shale gas boom, the
EU's climate chief said on Thursday (16 May).
Speaking at the European Business
Summit, EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard called for “clever
regulation” to drive innovation and for a liberalised EU energy market
to lower prices, saying renationalisation would be more costly than
European-wide climate policies.
“We need efficient and also cost-efficient energy systems. We need to
liberalise the energy market, a Europeanised market. It is wrong that
renationalisation will be cheaper. Of course you cannot have climate
policies that cost nothing,” she said.
Hedegaard was attempting to allay business concerns that the cost of
EU climate policies was stunting their growth compared to other
countries such as China and the United States, which have less stringent
environmental regulation.