Brussels, 15/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Monday, the UN climate conference in Warsaw (COP 19) will enter its ministerial phase (18-22 November). It will be a decisive week as the binding global climate agreement to be concluded in Paris in 2015 hangs on progress made in Warsaw on the implementation of commitments already taken, on the architecture of the future agreement, and on the timetable for achieving this, as Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for Climate Action, and Valentino Mazuronis, President of the Environment Council, have reiterated on many occasions.
Things are off to a bad start when it comes to stepping up the level of ambition for commitments. On Friday 15 November, Japan reviewed its CO2 emissions reduction target downward. Australia announced it might do the same, and Canada congratulated Australia for doing away with the carbon tax. Environmental NGOs like WWF accused those three countries of “undermining progress and creating uncertainty”, condemning their attitude as “disconnected from reality” at a time when the Philippines has been devastated by the super typhoon Haiyan. The European Union is still willing to increase its reduction target to 30% (compared to 1990) by 2020 if the other main emitting countries pledge comparable targets. “We want real pledges from all regions in the world. We want to move forward now and not in 2018 or 2020. We also need more financial support from developed countries”, said Matthias Groote (S&D, Germany), head of the Parliament's delegation. (AN/transl.jl)