Brussels, 20/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - A step was taken, on 19 March, towards allowing the EU to adopt technical rules for the implementation of the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol running from 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2020. The permanent representatives of the member states, meeting within Coreper, approved the compromise reached on 17 March by the Council and the Parliament on a regulation amending the current legislation (Regulation 525/2013) on the technical implementation of the Kyoto Protocol.
The new regulation, which has still to go for formal approval by the Parliament in April, and then by the Council, will provide the required legal base to allow the Commission to adopt implementing rules for the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. These rules are required to allow the joint achievement of commitments undertaken by the EU, its member states and Iceland for 2013-2020, and to guarantee that the technical implementation of the Kyoto Protocol is consistent with the emissions quota trading system (ETS) and with the future decision on the sharing of the effort. The parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change decided to extend the Kyoto Protocol in Doha in 2012, with an amendment to the Kyoto Protocol. (AN)