This Green Paper seeks to act as a catalyst, leading to a renewed energy efficiency initiative at all levels of European society – EU, National, regional and local. In addition, this Green Paper seeks to make a significant contribution, by way of example and leadership, to kick-start an international effort to contribute to addressing climate change through energy efficiency. China presently uses more than five times as much energy as the EU to produce one unit of GDP, the USA approximately uses 50% more than the EU4. With exploding energy demand in particular in China and India, energy efficiency must be one of the key policies to try to reconcile on the one hand the increased energy needs of the developing world to power growth and improve living conditions for their citizens and, on the other hand, combat global warming. This Green Paper, and the momentum created in following it up, should put the EU at the forefront of efforts to make energy efficiency a global priority. Finally, high oil prices hit the poorest the hardest, particularly in ACP countries. Attention should be given during the follow-up to the Green Paper as to how technology which is developed in Europe can be used or adapted to meet the needs of these countries and how best it can be deployed. The concrete examples cited above to meet this challenge, which are examined in more detail below, are not proposals; they are ideas for discussion. Nor are they exhaustive. Following the publication of this Green Paper, the Commission shall, until the end of this year, undertake an intensive public consultation. (Author/publisher) For the English version see: http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/lex/LexUriServ/site/en/com/2005/com2005_02…
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