Europeans join EPA Legal action to highlight the global impacts of carbon pollution and climate change

26 August 2011

Washington D.C. - A first of its kind friend-of-court brief submitted by European organizations in a U.S. environmental court case demonstrates that the European Union has adopted greenhouse gas regulations and reductions while maintaining the world’s largest market economy.

European environmental lawyers ClientEarth, supported by Friends of Earth Europe, Birdlife Europe, and Transport & Environment, filed the amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit late yesterday. It will be heard in the series of cases brought by U.S. fossil fuel industries and others against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over its regulation of carbon pollution.

In the brief, the European groups say that carbon pollution and climate change not only threaten the health and welfare of Americans, but also people all around the world.  The brief also demonstrates that the European Union has concluded that the transition to a low-carbon economy “is a huge opportunity for business” which can “drive economic growth and the creation of new jobs.” 
 
“Like Florida and New York City, Europe has many low-lying regions that will be submerged under rising seas.” said James Thornton, CEO of ClientEarth.  “The world needs America, as a global economic, military, and innovation superpower, to lead on climate change and the economic opportunities it presents.”

“The U.S, the EU, and most of the world’s countries have committed to limit the global increase in temperatures to 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit or less,” said Douglas Ruley, the U.S. attorney for the European groups.  He said this is the first time a European entity has taken direct action in the U.S. court system on the issue of climate change.  “We are filing this brief because it is critical that the EPA move forward with its greenhouse gas regulations if we are to meet this commitment.”  

The European brief also stressed that the United States and Europe, as historic allies and longstanding partners on economic, security, and environmental challenges, must work together to address climate change. 

The brief was filed in Coalition for Responsible Regulation v. EPA, No. 09-1322 (Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit).  Pursuant to court rules, the European brief was filed as a single document that also contains separate amicus briefs by the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Great Waters Coalition. 

In December 2009, the EPA announced a final determination that greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, endanger public health and welfare. Texas and other states, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the oil and gas industry and others filed suit over this “endangerment” finding, prompting more than a dozen other states and numerous environmental groups to intervene on the side of the EPA.  


ENDS

Brief available on request


Media Contacts:  

ClientEarth press office, George Leigh, t. + 44 (0) 203 030 5951; m. + 44 (0)7538 418 460;
e. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Douglas Ruley, Law Offices of Douglas A. Ruley, (828) 335-8866, www.ruleylawoffices.com


Notes to editors:

  • Facts on GHG Regulation, Economic Growth and Prosperity in the EU and US
  • The EU and the United States are the world's largest developed economies.  In 2010 the EU Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was approximately $17.45 trillion; the United States GDP was $15.22 trillion.[1] 
  • The EU began regulating greenhouse gases in 2005 pursuant to the Kyoto Protocol and its flagship climate policy, an emissions trading system.    
  • From 2005-2010, the average annual growth rate of the U.S. GDP has been about 1.15%.[2]  The average annual growth rate of EU GDP during the same period has been about 1.05%.[3] 
  • Eco-industries are one of the most dynamic sectors of the European economy, growing at around 5% per year.  These industries employ about 3.4 million people in Europe and offer particular growth potential.[4]
  • Renewable energy technologies already have created 300,000 jobs in Europe, and it is estimated that this field will create nearly 1 million jobs by 2020.[5]
  • In the United States,  the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries currently generate 9 million jobs and $1 trillion in revenue.  If the U.S. adopted aggressive strategies for mitigating climate change, these industries could generate 37 million jobs and over $4 trillion in revenue by 2030, all while reducing American carbon dioxide emissions 30-40% compared to business as usual.[6] 
  • The EU has identified two further significant benefits from its reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.  First, these actions increase the EU's energy security and economic competitiveness.[7]  Second, reducing greenhouse gas emissions reduces other air pollution, which in turn will reduce health care costs by at least 27 billion Euro per year (about $36 billion), and reduce other pollution control costs by 11 billion Euro per year (about $16.5 billion), for a total cost savings of over $50 billion per year.[8]   

1. International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database, April 2011 Edition, available at http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2011/01/weodata/index.aspx. 

2. U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, National Income and Product Accounts Tables, annual query from 2005, available at http://www.bea.gov/iTable/index_nipa.afm. 

3. European Commission, Eurostat Table of Real GDP Growth Rate, available at http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/tgm/table.do?.tab=table&plugin+1&language=en&pcode=tsieb020.

4. European Commission, EU Action Against Climate Change, at 17 (2009).

5. Id. 

6. American Solar Energy Society, Estimating the Jobs Impact of Tackling Climate Change  (October 2009).

7. EU Action Against Climate Change, at 16.

8 . Id. at 17.