Brussels, 23/07/2001 (Agence Europe) - Practically buried on Sunday night following fruitless negotiations, the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations framework convention on climatic change was saved on Monday morning in Bonn (COP6b) by a political agreement, gained in extremis, through consensus, over a minimalist compromise between the Ministers for the Environment from 185 countries. The opposition of Japan - key partner - to a system of sanctions imposed on industrialised countries that do not respect their target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, had constituted the last barrier to a global agreement over the methods for the implementation of the Protocol concocted by Jan Pronk, Minister for the Environment of the Netherlands and President of the COP6, in the final package of compromises "to be taken or left", according to his own words. This barrier was able to be lifted, once it was decided to postpone negotiations over this point to the next COP (COP7, in October in Marrakech will provide the first opportunity to deepen the issue). That the European Union, ferociously attached to the establishment of a very strict system of conformity control, guarantor of effectiveness and the integrity of the Protocol, has accepted to differ over an agreement on this vital issue in its eyes, represents a major concession, but it was the price to pay to ensure the survival of an international instrument that, for the first time, would impose on the industrialised countries the obligation to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions (-5.2% around 2008-2012 compared to the level reached in 1990). The fact that the United States, the world's largest producer of greenhouse gases, unilaterally decided, in March, to denounce a text that had been signed by the international community, had seriously threatened the prospects for the ratification of the treaty. The agreement reached in Bonn over the methods for the implementation of the Protocol and over the financing of assistance to be given to the developing countries distances this danger: the political conditions are now present for the 55 countries representing at least 55% of the total emissions to, as set by the rules, ratify the protocol.
The compromise foresees: a) the authorised use of carbon sinks (ability of forests and farmland to absorb carbon) to achieve these reduction targets, by limiting the use of this instrument to plant new forests and reforest (existing forests will not be included) and by excluding agricultural activities; b) mechanisms and procedures in terms of respecting the targets (the countries that do not respect their commitments will have to make an additional effort calculated according to a "restoration" rate of 1.3 per tonne of carbon failing the achievement of their target), to be completed with a binding system to be prepared in the future; c) the financing by the industrialised countries of a adaptation fund aimed at helping the developing countries (LDC) particularly vulnerable towards climatic change to the value of EUR 450 million per year, by 2005 (of USD 410 million/per while Jan Pronk initially proposed USD 1 billion per year).
This agreement is accompanied by a political declaration from the European Union (to which Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Canada, and New Zealand are associated) reaffirming its political undertaking to make its contribution to the adaptation fund and to increase its financial aid to the LDC.
When commenting on this result before the press, the heads of the EU negotiators, manifestly tired from several nights without sleep, do not hide their joy. For Olivier Deleuze, Belgian Minister for Energy, who chairs the EU Council, the agreement reached is very good news for the international community, for the whole world. It is a positive message as despite the major difficulties, which we were unable to overcome last week. We have concluded this marathon with success. Some tried to make us look naïve. Europe as a whole played a very positive role, he stated, delighted with the near totality of the countries that chose to remain within the Protocol. Only one of them stated that the Protocol is dead. This is not my impression, Mr Deleuze said with irony, when referring to the United States. He nevertheless recognised that a country, which does not play its part, is a country too many, when the future of the planet and future generations is at stake. He also expressed the hope that the agreement reached incites the United States to review its position. To have the United States on board, we needed a boat. We now have it. The talks should be easier now, as the United States will see that the Protocol is alive, he stated.
"The rescue operation (Ed.: for the protocol) is a success. We can now continue. Climate change will henceforth be at the top of the political agenda, for many years to come. We have begun the process (Ed.: to fight against climate change), exclaimed a radiant Margot Wallström, European Environment Commissioner. While acknowledging that the binding objectives set for the first period of commitment are not enough and only represent "a first modest step", she stressed that it was not negligible that the "movement has now got under way as have the operational rules". "Our agreement is the result of a compromise. We shall have to adjust but we have managed to show the United States, the NGOs and everyone else that we are able to reach an agreement without the United States", she said although she did acknowledge that such an agreement is of course a weakened agreement. She went on to add that "this is a first step. Now the countries can move forward and ratify the Protocol - which is something we are pleased about".
In a joint declaration, the European Commission and the Union Presidency confirm the Commission's intention to present before the end of the year a proposal for ratification of the Protocol by the Union so that the process may be settled in 2002. "I call on all the other signatory countries to do the same so that the international community works for implementation of the Protocol before the summit on sustainable development in September 2002", said Margot Wallström.
For this to be possible, the political agreement of the ministers must now be consolidated and translated into a legal text. The secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention and the experts of the countries that are party to it have until 27 July, the official closing date for COP6, for accomplishing this task.