Not only is the European parliament’s commute to Strasbourg burning 200m euros of taxpayers’ money a year. It is also burning at least 20,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, a report published by the Green party on Wednesday showed.

The 785 MEPs and their baggage train spend one week a month in the French city in a spirit of European solidarity. The first serious research into their carbon footprint is released to coincide with the setting up of a temporary committee on climate change.

Claude Turmes, a ponytailed Green from Luxembourg, said MEPs take chauffeur-driven limousines from office to restaurant and yet have called on Europe to cut emissions by 25 per cent between 1990 and 2020. “This is exactly what citizens detest in politicians: saying one thing and doing another.”

His colleague, Caroline Lucas, said that ending the Strasbourg commute would eliminate almost 4,000 tonnes of carbon from heating and lighting 2,650 offices, a debating chamber and 50 smaller meeting rooms.

Moving the 3,000 staff, assistants, journalists, lobbyists and the MEPs themselves, along with the 15 lorry-loads of documents account for the rest. The Briton said the estimate was conservative but still added up to 13,000 transatlantic flights. “What matters is not the overall figure of emissions. It is that they are completely and totally unnecessary.”

While a French government veto means the travelling circus will continue for a while, there are still a lot of cuts that could be made to existing arrangements, say the Greens.

Mr Turmes wondered why his office light was on when he arrived every morning. “It is because that is the signal to make cleaning staff aware that the room has already been cleaned. So we are burning electricity for want of a simple written notice,” he said. The air conditioning was set so low that people catch cold.

Though two years ago the assembly voted to switch to renewable energy, not a kilowatt of it is used to date. The fleet of parliamentary vehicles emits an average of 216g of CO2 per kilometre, way above the 160g European average, and the 120g target the EU is calling for by 2009. Turmes wants a parliamentary-branded hybrid fleet.

Monica Frassoni, the Green co-leader, rides a bike but the party admits to having a Renault Espace to ferry people around.

A new TGV route from Paris, which will halve rail journey time from four hours by June, will also help. But there is no relief yet for the 5-hour train journey from Brussels which persuades many, myself included, to take the plane.

In an attempt to clean up my own act I have adopted the Lucas flight plan. To spend an extra night with her family in Brussels, she flies to Strasbourg on Tuesday morning and offsets her emissions. She then returns by train early on Thursday morning. By eschewing the return flight, I will save 35kg, according to various online carbon calculators, at the cost of some sleep.

April 26th, 2007 in MEPs | Permalink