Brussels, 20/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - During their meeting in Paris on Thursday 19 June to prepare for the European Council on 26-27 June, European Commissioner for Climate Action Connie Hedegaard and France's Minister for Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy Ségolène Royal were already focussing on the UN climate conference in Paris in 2015 (COP 21). This was because, even though the June European Council is content itself with reviewing progress made since March on key issues in the integrated draft action framework for climate and energy policies in 2030 (see EUROPE 11104), there is an urgent need to reach an agreement so that the EU can contribute ambitiously and responsibly to the success of the Paris conference, Hedegaard stated. She hopes the EU will be able to show its level of ambition for the climate summit convened by Ban Ki-moon in New York on 23 September.
Royal reiterated “France's commitment to facilitating the discussions of the European Council, to allow the EU to reach an agreement by October on the joint objectives proposed by the Commission” - a reduction of at least 40% in greenhouse gas emissions through national efforts alone, 27% of renewable energies as a European target - but also a global energy efficiency objective to be announced by the Commission in July. “We cannot put an energy security policy in place without taking account of the climate policy and the long term. The fight against climate change and the security of energy supply are intrinsically linked. We need more renewable energies, more energy efficiency and a more integrated European approach”, Hedegaard has been stressing for months. The minister of the COP 21 host country quite agrees: she is “convinced that a global approach to the stakes of energy security and the fight against climate change is absolutely vital”.
For the Paris conference, the two women agree on the need to maintain confidence between the partners in the negotiations and the dynamic of the discussions, whilst ensuring that the decisions of previous conferences are implemented, such as the capitalisation of the Green Climate Fund and the ratification of the amendment of the Kyoto Protocol for its second commitment period.
Energy efficiency: now the missing link, in future a poor relative? The European Commission's intention of proposing 27% as an indicative target of energy efficiency bodes ill, according to NGOs (see EUROPE 11104). The NGOs, under the collective banner of the European Environment Bureau, are calling for a binding target of 40%. (AN)