Ecologists in Action reject the appointment of Connie Hedegaard as European Commissioner for Climate Action due to her support of incineration and her co-responsibility in the failure of Copenhagen Summit

This week the European Parliament and the leaders of political groups interviewed the new nominated commissioners. They were invited by the corresponding committees where they had to demonstrate their competence for the office. To fill the position of commissioner of Climate Action Connie Hedegaard has been called, recommended by the Danish Government.

Miss Hedegaard is a firm supporter of incineration. She promoted it while she was Danish Minister of Climate Change as well as when she was President of last December's Conference.

Ecologists in Action considers unacceptable for a representative of Climate Change to support incineration. How is it possible to fight against climate change if recycling is reduced in the benefit of incineration which represents a “use and throw-away culture”? Denmark, where 55.6% of the urban waste is burnt is the biggest producer of waste per inhabitant of the European Union: 800 kgs opposite of the average 550 kgs.

It is absurd to support incineration. In the European Union 50% of the recyclable waste is either burnt or buried. In developing countries the planned incinerators not only threaten employment but also recycling initiatives and health. In many countries incinerators have destroyed the life of many families whose members worked in recollecting, selecting and recycling the waste in an efficient way. Moreover, incinerators encourage the “use and throw-away” lifestyle in countries that produce lot less garbage then our industrialized societies.

On the other hand, several studies have demonstrated that incineration does not reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. On the contrary, in some cases it even increased the emission of these gases. We should not forget either that despite of the publicity of “pyromaniacs” even the most efficient incinerators hardly reach a 35% of efficiency. Moreover, it is also false that it would be possible to extract a 98% of energy from waste burning.