Brussels, 06/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has proposed that the European Union and Iceland ratify the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol from 2013 to 2020. Two legislative texts to this end were presented by the Commission on Wednesday 6 October - one proposed decision of the Council to ratify the Doha amendment to the Kyoto Protocol, which brought in the second period, and a more complex proposed regulation concerning the technical aspects of the implementation of the second period, in other words how the EU, its member states and Iceland will jointly fulfil the commitment to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 20%. The Commission hopes that the ratification procedures can be concluded by February 2015. A few days ahead of the opening of the 19th conference of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 19, Warsaw, 11-22 November), these two proposals aim to send out a clear signal to the other parties to the negotiations.
“The ratification will take time. It will take more than a year for all of the national parliaments to conclude the procedure. Before the EU goes to Warsaw, it was important for us to have a proposal. Since 1 January, we have kept up to our commitments. In Durban, the commitment was made to keep the Kyoto Protocol alive whilst we negotiated a new agreement. We now have to tell our partners that the other part of the agreement is just as important, that all parties must take their responsibilities”, explained Connie Hedegaard, Climate Action Commissioner. She went on to stress that 60% of global emissions originate in the developing countries whilst the emissions of the EU (11%) represent a congruent share. The 2013 UNEP report on the widening gap between what the countries should be doing and what they actually are doing to cut their emissions speaks volumes on this.
“In Warsaw, we must agree to prepare commitments worthy of the name with a view to the 2015 agreement and to increase the level by which emissions are cut over the rest of the decade. All countries must be prepared to present ambitious commitments before the summit of global leaders on climate change, which will be held next September by initiative of United Nations Secretary General, Mr Ban Ki-moon”, the commissioner said. Speaking along the same lines, Valentinas Mazuronis, President of the Environment Council, who will be negotiating hand-in-hand with the Commissioner, added that “the European Union has proposed a progressive procedure, including an assessment period, for ambitious commitments for the purposes of the 2015 agreement, which will be a good working basis for a decision to be adopted in Warsaw”.
Taking responsibility for the losses and damage caused by climate change in the developing countries, the funding of the fight against climate change in the developing countries, finalising the transparency rules for the commitments made so far and the details for the implementation of the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol will also be on the agenda of COP 19. There is also an urgent need for progress to be made for the drafting, scope of application and structure of the global agreement, which will be legally binding, to be adopted in Paris no later than in 2015 (COP 21) and enter into force in 2020. The EU therefore wants the Warsaw conference to allow the stakeholders to plan the work to be carried out in 2014 in order to allow a draft text to be presented well before May 2015. (AN/transl.fl)