healthier, happier and richer

The world faces an urgent climate crisis. There is no time to lose. However, the UK general election has produced no winner and, at the time of writing, it is still not clear who will form the next government.

Whatever the outcome of the Durban discussions, the EU should give priority to agreeing its draft energy efficiency directive, which will be good for human health and energy security as well as climate protection. It should also strengthen the Emissions Trading System by setting a floor price for the carbon permits.

The European Commission should focus on proposing specific policies, rather than modelling different scenarios. It has done well with its energy efficiency proposal; now it should propose strengthening the ETS and setting a 2030 renewables target.

The EU should spend less money on agriculture and more on improving the econommies of poorer member-states and on climate protection.

The European Commission has proposed that subsidies to hard coal should be phased out by 2014. This is good, but must be agreed by EU national governments, some of whom will almost certainly try to extend the deadline.