The group concluded by welcoming the target set by EU heads of state and government at their March 2007 summit, for member states to ensure that 20% of their collective energy sources are renewable energies by 2020, but firmly believed that there should be a way of measuring member states’ progress towards reaching this target and that there should be scope for sanctioning countries that do not meet this objective. The group also stated that an easily understandable and credible EU-wide labelling system agreed by industry showing the carbon footprint of products was needed to empower individuals to make decisions about what they buy.

This meeting represents the first time that ELDR has brought together national and European MPs to discuss a common issue and was well received with more than 20 people participating. A list of participants is provided below, together with a link to view the pictures from the meeting. The group will meet again for the second and final time in the form of a climate change panel debate that will take place during the ELDR congress on Friday 19^th October in Berlin, Germany.

Participants

Lord Teverson, Chair of the ELDR climate change working group and Spokesperson for the Environment, Liberal Democrats, UK
Johanna Åkesson, Political Advisor to Sven Bergström, Centerpartiet, Sweden
Sven Bergström, MP, Centerpartiet, Sweden
Anita Brodén, MP, Folkpartiet, Sweden
Sergi Cantó, Convergència Democràtica, Catalonia
Roger Chadwick, Policy Advisor, Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, European Parliament
Chris Davies, MEP, Liberal Democrats, UK
Lena Ek, MEP, Coordinator of the Alliance of Liberal and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, Chair of the ALDE committee on climate change.
Laurence Graff, European Commission, Deputy Head of Unit, C1. Climate Strategy, international negotiation and monitoring of EU action
Ian Hutchins, European Affairs Manager, Tesco, UK
Tatiana Kalkanova, MP, National Movement of Simeon II, Bulgaria
Thomas Kästner, Head of Public Policy, E-ON Energy
Srd Kisevic, Secretary General, European Liberal Youth (LYMEC), Croatia.
Tõnis Kõiv, MP, Estonian Reform Party, Estonia
Yordan Kostadinov, MP, National Movement of Simeon II, Bulgaria
Airis Meier, Policy Advisor, Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, European Parliament, Estonia
Robert Plummer, ELDR Political Research and Policy Assistant
Rein Ratas, MP, Centre Party, Estonia
Federica Sabbati, ELDR Secretary General
Dominique Tilmans, MP, Mouvement Réformateur, Belgium
Boris van der Ham, MP, Democraten 66, The Netherlands
Peter Vis, Member of Cabinet for Andris Piebalgs, European Commissioner for Energy
Eyvind Vesselbo, MP, Venstre, Denmark

Click here to see the photo gallery