On 27 March Frederic Laplanche, Head of the European Economic and Trade Office (EETO), gave a 40-minute speech to 40 young trainee diplomats at the Green Leadership Forum. The event, co-hosted by the ECCT's Low Carbon Initiative (LCI) and the Ministry of Economic Affairs' (MoFA) Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs (IDIA) was the first in a series of events arranged for Taiwan's trainee diplomats to brief them on a range of sustainability issues and practices in the European Union.

The events are part of the LCI's CSR & Education mission to  raise awareness about low carbon solutions and educate the public about how to go about achieving a low carbon society. In his presentation...

Laplanche gave a comprehensive briefing on the EU's climate change policy, including a summary of the EU's major policies designed to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions. He emphasised the fact that, contrary to the commonly-held perception, taking action to address climate change is not incompatible with economic development. The fact that emissions in the EU fell 17% while GDP rose by 45% between 1990 and 2011 proves this. In addition, there are a number of other knock-on benefits for society by taking action to become greener, most notably: achieving energy independence, preserving rain forests, creating green jobs, making cities more livable, cleaner water and air and healthier people.

Following the presentation, Laplanche answered a number of questions from eager trainees for 30 minutes, sharing his insights on the European experience and how Taiwan and Europe could cooperate in drive towards sustainability that overall made today's Green Leadership Forum a great success.

Mr. Laplanche's presentation slides can be downloaded HERE.  For more photos please visit ECCT FB.