Brussels, 03/11/2009 (Agence Europe) - Barely had EU heads of state and government adopted the definitive EU mandate for the international climate negotiations (see EUROPE 10010) than the final UN session of preparatory negotiations for the Copenhagen conference on a global agreement for the post-2012 period began in Barcelona on Monday 2 November.
The 192 parties to the United Nations Framework Convention and the 37 parties to the Kyoto Protocol have five days ahead of them to try to break the deadlock in negotiations. 33 days before the start of the Copenhagen conference, pressure on negotiators is great, and pessimism is growing on the possibility of reaching an ambitious, binding agreement in December. With its (heavily criticised) mandate, the EU believes that it is playing its part. It has, therefore, added its voice to that of the UN to urge all parties to seize this final opportunity to prevent the Copenhagen talks ending in failure. “The Barcelona negotiations must make decisive progress and lay the solid foundations for success in Copenhagen. We have only five days to achieve this task, only five days to bring together the options and present working documents. I am, however, sure that we can do it,” said Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention Ivo de Boer.
More precisely, he expects Barcelona to give concrete expression to the options on the table on adaptation, technological cooperation, action to reduce emissions resulting from deforestation in developing countries and capacity building.
At the opening of this last-chance saloon, Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren, presenting the EU positions on both greenhouse gas emissions reductions and global funding of aid to poorer countries, urged the parties to come on board, thus requiring, as a priority, the industrialised countries to improve their medium term offers. He said that a legally binding agreement had to be reached, building on the Kyoto Protocol and building in its key elements as a common framework for posting quantified reduction targets for developing countries. He went on to say that all countries, including those not currently tied in to the Kyoto Protocol, had to act immediately.
Danish Energy and Climate Minister Connie Hedegaard, whose country will host the Copenhagen conference, spoke of the promise made by some 35 environment ministers who met the day prior to the Barcelona talks to “instruct negotiators to be flexible and constructive so that agreement can be reached in Copenhagen”. She added, “Working to reach agreement is not easy. But it won't be any easier next year or the year after”.
On Monday 2 November, Swedish Prime Minister and current European Council President Fredrik Reinfeldt was in Washington for talks with US President Barak Obama at the White House, before the EU-US Summit on Wednesday 3 November. Nevertheless, he sent a simple written message of very few words to all parties: the EU has put its cards on the table: now it is up to others to follow its example.
In an article published in the largest Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter on Tuesday, Reinfeldt says, “As President of the European Council, I welcome the responsibility and capacity for action shown by EU member states last week in backing the Commission assessments, and this in spite of the current economic downturn. The European Union is in a position to make a fair contribution to global action, within the framework of the climate agreement, setting a limitation target, granting compensation and making a fair contribution to public aid. One month before the Copenhagen Summit, the EU is more united than ever. Last week's European Summit agreed a solid negotiating mandate. But the EU contribution alone will not be enough. We will only be able to reach an ambitious agreement in Copenhagen if all the partners play an active role in the process. That is why the other developed countries must also show leadership at this time: they, too, must give commitments on ambitious emissions reduction, presenting funding proposals and increasing their action. The developing countries, especially the most advanced of them, must also bring forward measures that reflect explicitly how far they will share responsibility and their ability”.
The United States, China and India are clearly the key countries that have to be persuaded. Of his meeting with President Obama, Reinfeldt said two things. Firstly, “it is clear that Obama has been a turning point for the United States and the beginning of a policy change on climate”. And secondly, “the EU is also setting conditions: we assume our responsibility in relation to climate funding and carbon footprint reduction, but we demand that others, too, take steps”. Obama underlined that Sweden, the US and the EU were interested in an outcome along the lines of sustainable development and one which did not accelerate climate change catastrophe. He also expressed his hope that a climate agreement would be reached even though it did not solve all the problems in this area. It would, he said in substance, be a step in the right direction and would lay the foundations for future progress.
On Wednesday 4 November, Reinfeldt will travel to New Delhi for an EU-India Summit. The message he wants to take to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is also a double one: “We have to concentrate on the climate and it is clear that, for that, action has to be taken immediately”, and the EU wants to enhance cooperation with India in the area of solar power.
At the end of November, Reinfeldt will chair a meeting at the EU-China Summit. “The message I want to give China is: raise the level of your ambition so that peak by 2020 at the latest and drop thereafter,” said the European Council President. In the intervening period, it is up to the experts meeting in Barcelona to consider the technical texts to bring viewpoints closer together. (A.N./transl.rt)