Brussels, 09/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - Ministers from the 70 countries and negotiating groups meeting in Paris for a 'Pre-COP' meeting (8-10 November) are not meeting up for negotiating but rather, to provide some guidance that will ensure that COP21 concludes a global climate agreement that is legally binding and enters into force in 2020 (see EUROPE 11421).
All the main greenhouse gas emitting countries (US, Canada, Australia, the EU and several of its member states, China, India, South Africa, Brazil, Indonesia, Russia, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states) as well as many countries vulnerable to climate change, such as Bangladesh, small developing island states and Niger participated at this meeting, which the UN described as a “general rehearsal”.
Miguel Arias Canete, the European commissioner for climate action and energy, is encouraged by the progress accomplished at Bonn and the unprecedented global boost for the climate. He is aware, however, that a lot still needs to be done to transform the attempts made at Bonn (50 pages of the draft agreement, replete with options and clauses) into a success in Paris. He emphasised the fact that “Despite the impressive number of intended national contributions and increasing evidence of political determination to seal the deal in Paris, we have a lot of work ahead of us. What is needed now is the political steer to bring the process to the next level”.
At the opening of the pre-COP meeting, Laurent Fabius, the French minister for foreign affairs, who will be chairing the COP21 summit, pointed out that even though the text on the table has been accepted by everyone as a basis for negotiations in Paris, “our negotiators are still stalling on a range of major political questions. They are still unable to resolve them at their respective level and we therefore need to make some decisions about the major options available at ministerial level”.
Ministers still have two days to decide on four questions that still require political consensus, namely: the goals of the agreement: the idea is to encourage the countries to accept the principle of a revision clause of the national contributions, with a mention of the periodicity (the EU would like a five yearly revision); the equity of the agreement: if the principle of taking into account past responsibilities and individual capacity, which is very much favoured by developing countries, is noted, the modalities for implementation still need to be discussed; post-2020 funding: they still need to look at what possible financing is possible by working out what the contribution of the developing countries should be and the increase in the $100 billion envelope a year promised in 2009 by the industrialised countries up to 2020; pre-2020: they will also need to work out what concrete action has to be undertaken by now and the entry into force of the new global agreement.
Jo Leinen MEP (S&D Germany), an expert in climate issues, is adamant: the EU must show an example, particularly in climate financing matters, “European governments must show the way and make financial commitments to developing countries, including those that go beyond 2020. If the member states do not show that they are ready now for succeeding in Paris in pulling out all the stops, they will compromise their credibility and unity in the climate negotiations”. With three weeks to go until COP21, he believes that ministers must make some real compromises in an effort to smooth over the difficulties to questions still pending. He believes that it is crucial to obtain a clear political commitment on a long-term mitigation target and on the need to put an end to investments in fossil fuels. The MEP explained that in this respect too “the EU must now show an example to ensure the support of emerging countries like China, Brazil and India”. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)