Brussels, 26/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - Europe and the United States are determined to work together to ensure the signing of a legally binding global climate deal at the UN climate change conference in Paris, COP21, at the end of 2015. This was one step forward made at the EU-United States summit in Brussels on Tuesday 26 March, at which it was acknowlewdged that dealing with the problem of global warming was in the interest of sustainable growth and security at global level.
At a press conference, Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, said they had talked about climate and their ambitions for a global negotiation in the future. United States' President Barack Obama talked of “our commitment to a new global agreement to combat climate change”.
A joint statement issued after the summit states: “Sustainable economic growth will only be possible if we tackle climate change, which is also a risk to global security”.
The two sides say “the 2015 agreement must be consistent with science and with the goal of limiting the global temperature increase to below 2 degrees C, and should therefore include ambitious mitigation contributions, notably from the world's major economies and other significant emitters. We are implementing our existing pledges and preparing new mitigation contributions for the first quarter of 2015 (…). The EU and the United States demonstrate leadership and are intensifying their cooperation, including: phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, phasing down the production and consumption of hydrocarbons (HFCs) under the Montreal Protocol, in promoting sustainable energy, energy efficiency and renewable energy, fighting deforestation and mobilising public and private finance”. (AN)