Brussels, 29/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - While, in order to agree the position the EU will argue at the Doha climate conference (COP 18, 26 November-7 December), the Environment Council of 25 October had to make concessions towards those countries holding surpluses of hot air - led by Poland which was backed by Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania and Slovakia (see EUROPE 10719) - member states still managed to adopt bold conclusions on all other points than what is to be done about AAUs in the international negotiations.
Council is pressing all parties to step up the pace so that an ambitious outcome can be reached in Doha, preserving the balance of the “Durban package” which is centred on three points (negotiation within the Durban Platform leading to the signing in 2015 of a comprehensive and legally binding climate agreement to come into force by 2020 at the latest; negotiation as part of the Kyoto Protocol, leading to the adoption of a second commitment period running from 1 January 2013 to 2020; and negotiation within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to resolve the outstanding issues, including, for example, new market and emissions accounting mechanisms).
Council is of the view that comprehensive agreement should allow all parties to make an appropriate contribution to the collective effort that is needed in order to achieve the goal of keeping the average increase in temperature to below 2 degrees Celsius (compared with the pre-industrial period) and underlines the urgent need to bridge the gap between the offers on the table and this goal. It notes that the EU is well on its way to achieving its Kyoto target and highlights the need for member states and the EU to start working towards 2020 objectives from 1 January of next year. It repeats the EU's conditional offer of increasing the reduction of its emissions to 30 per cent by 2020 as part of a comprehensive post-2012 agreement and an agreement on achieving an emissions reduction of between 80 and 95 per cent by 2050 (compared with 1990 levels).
The Council restates the urgency of the need to resolve the issue of AAUs. This provides “an open mandate” Polish minister Marcin Korolec was pleased to acknowledge. The Council states that the transfer of AAUs to the second Kyoto commitment period and their use will be an option only open to countries which commit themselves to an emissions reductions target under the second Kyoto commitment period. The Council proposes to seek a solution that retains the environmental integrity of the Protocol while at the same time encouraging the setting of bold targets. Just like Canada and Japan, Russia (which holds substantial AAUs) rejects the idea of a second Kyoto Protocol commitment period. (AN/transl.fl)