Brussels, 04/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - By 2020, the EU may have reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 24.5% compared with 1990 levels, much more than the 20% target it had set itself. It is on the back of this rather effective performance that the European Union will enter the international climate negotiations in Bonn (4-15 June) and, in particular, the two ministerial roundtables on 5-6 June on the level of ambition of the commitments taken under the Kyoto Protocol and the Durban Platform for enhanced action.
The informal Environment Council in Athens defined the EU's negotiating position in these terms (see EUROPE 11080). This success and the offer to move up to 30% reduction, if the other major economies agree to similar efforts, will be the key arguments with which the EU is hoping to bring the other stakeholders on board, confirmed Commissioner for Climate Action Connie Hedegaard on Wednesday 4 June. The commissioner will travel to Bonn on Thursday 5 June.
She stated: “Although we are already looking beyond the current decade it is also crucial to step up action before 2020. The EU will substantially over-achieve its pre-2020 Kyoto Protocol emission targets. This is thanks largely to over a decade of determined policy action by the EU and member states. We are making a significant contribution to closing the 'ambition gap' between what the world needs to do and what countries intend to do by the end of this decade”. She added that “the EU will now adopt its contribution to the post-2020 international climate deal by October”.
Yannis Maniatis, the president in office of the Environment Council, will work closely with the commissioner in negotioations. He highlighted the need to achieve “solid progress towards agreeing on the information that countries should provide when they propose their contribution towards reducing emissions under the post-2020 agreement”. A decision on this issue is expected to be taken at the Lima climate conference in December (COP 20, at the end of 2014).
At the Kyoto Protocol roundtable the Union will show that it over-achieved its official target in the Protocol's first commitment period (2008-2012) by an estimated 4.2 billion tonnes (4.2 gigatonnes - Gt) of CO2-equivalent. The potential over-achievement in the second period is a further 1.3 Gt, with total greenhouse gas emissions, projected to be around 24.5% below levels in the chosen base year (1990). (AN)