Brussels, 27/01/2010 (Agence Europe) - The die has been cast. The EU will not change one iota of its 2020 CO² emission reduction target as part of international climate negotiations. The conditional offer made in Copenhagen which formed the basis of its negotiating position - a unilateral 20% cut, or 30% if the other parties to the negotiations agreed to make similar efforts - will be submitted, probably on Thursday 28 February to the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Member states' ambassadors (COREPER), meeting in Brussels on Wednesday 27 January, very quickly confirmed, without making any changes, the draft letter they had painstakingly drawn up last week (see EUROPE 10061). Formal approval of the letter will be given by written procedure at 3.00pm on Thursday 28 January, following a process where silence equates to acceptance. The EU will, then, meet the deadline of 1 February set by the Copenhagen Accord for all the industrialised countries (countries in Appendix 1) to submit their pledges on reduction to be made by 2020 and for all emerging countries to submit the action plans they will implement to significantly restrict the increase in their emissions over the same period.
Member states which had expressed reservations on the compromise agreed on the presentation of the figures (20/30% with a footnote indicating that the move to 30% is subject to conditions) agreed to lift them following consultations with their capitals. This is the case for both Italy and Poland, which initially backed a minimum level of ambition (only 20% to appear on the table, with no footnote) and for the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, which wanted only 30% to be included in the table, in the hope that it would encourage other parties to raise their levels of ambition. Denmark which also favoured the 30% approach, immediately acknowledged the need for compromise. (A.N./transl.rt)