Brussels, 20/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - With five months to go till the COP 21, major differences remain between the EU and US regarding the legal status of the individual targets of the different parties under the future global climate agreement to be concluded next December in Paris. The former would like these individual targets to be legally binding but for the EU's US partners, this is out of the question.
The Major Economies Forum (MEF) took place in Mondorf-les-Bains (Luxembourg) on 18-19 July and brought together the major emissions producing countries and the developing economies. It clearly highlighted existing differences, despite the US and Europeans describing the meeting as “constructive”. The meeting was co-chaired by Carole Dieschbourg, the acting president of the Environment Council, Caroline Atkinson, US adviser for international economic affairs (Sherpa to the G8 and G20) and Todd Stern, the US special envoy for climate change.
Adaptation, emissions reduction, transparency rules and financial support: all these key elements in the future agreement were debated. Carole Dieschbourg, speaking on behalf of the EU, acknowledged that this meeting had been, “productive”, although a number of “different views” were expressed. She called for a global, legally binding, dynamic, transparent and resilient agreement that could be reviewed every five years. She stated that in order to achieve this “we must now speed up negotiations in order to identify possible policy options”. She noted that the European Union supports a legally binding agreement, which concerns targets for the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, as well as accounting and transparency.
The US view is somewhat different. According to Todd Stern, CO2 emissions reduction should not be binding but that elements concerning transparency, reporting and checks should be. In addition, he noted that the architecture of the agreement should include the possibility of regular updates and “individual and collective” review.
He explained that the future Paris Protocol should provide a strong starting point because it has already been agreed that the objective of maintaining average temperatures to below 2°C will not be reached in Paris. This is why the EU and US are talking about a “dynamic” agreement, which, over time, will be subject to requests to be strengthened in an attempt to target carbon neutrality towards the end of the century or before. According to the opinion of one French expert, “although COP 21 will be a key conference, it is not going to solve everything. It will be a starting point and not the end of the process. It will provide the basis for a process that will require further strengthening”.
Three other MEF meetings are planned before the COP 21 (30 November-11 December). The MEF was set up on the initiative of the US in 2009 and provides a platform for promoting dialogue between 17 permanent participants that account for 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions (Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, EU - represented by the Commission and the Presidency of the Council of the EU, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, United Kingdom and the US) and observer countries. (Aminata Niang)