Brussels, 20/04/2004 (Agence Europe) - In its adoption of the report by Dutch Green MEP Alexander de Roo in Strasbourg on Tuesday, the European Parliament has given its green light to the implementation, as of January 2005, of all the flexible mechanisms of the Kyoto protocol within the European Union, to allow the Member States to achieve part of their objective to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases at low cost.
The vote in the plenary session on the so-called "liaison" directive (modifying the directive on the system of trading greenhouse gas emissions quotas within the Community) will allow the first-reading adoption of legislation aiming to include recourse to two other market instruments in the Community greenhouse gas emission quota trading system. These will be joint implementation mechanism (JIS) with transition economy countries, and the clean development mechanism (CDM) via technology transfer to developing countries. Thanks to this directive, large companies in the EU which invest in emission-reduction projects outside the Union will be able to obtain emission credits on the Community market in return.
The main amendments voted on by the plenary will guarantee that:
European industry will be able to make use of projects to invest in emission reduction overseas (purchase of credits against investment in the modernisation of coal-fired power stations or moving from coal to gas in China, or against investment in wind energy in developing countries or countries of the former Soviet bloc) in 2005, when the Community system of trading emissions quotas will begin.
The large hydro-electric power station projects carry rights to credit only if criteria applicable to dams are applied (the Parliament's Committee on the Environment excluded them due to their often devastating social and ecological impact).
As of 2008 (when the Kyoto Protocol will enter into force if ratified by a sufficient number), the scope of the directive will be extended: CO2 emissions from aeroplanes flying within the EU's airspace will be included in the calculation of emissions.
Everything carried out outside the EU will be in addition to national action, and each Member State must do its share. Reductions in emissions obtained using JIS and CDM must not exceed 50% of reduction effort. The Member States must therefore report to the Commission, which will be responsible for making sure that the 50/50 principle is respected throughout the Union.
Supporting the European Commission's proposal, the Parliament confirmed that the building of nuclear power stations does not carry rights to emissions credits, and nor do carbon sinks (capacity of forestry plantations to absorb CO2), because forests can burn.
Commenting on the vote before the press, Alexander de Roo said that he was delighted that the directive will be able to enter into force next year without having to wait for the Kyoto Protocol. "The Kyoto Protocol is not dead. Next week, a delegation of the European Commission will visit Moscow to convince Putin to ratify the Protocol. Rumours have it that the Commission will help Russia to get into the WTO more easily, in exchange for ratification. Whatever the case may be, today's vote is very important, because we would not depend on Putin's goodwill. Let us not forget that 21 countries, representing two-thirds of the earth's population, have already ratified it. Greenhouse gas is a world phenomenon. And in six years' time, developing countries will produce more of it than industrialised ones. The EP/Council/Commission agreement at first reading shows that the Kyoto Protocol has unanimous agreement in Europe", declared the rapporteur.
The European Commission is also pleased with the outcome. In a press release, Margot Wallström, the Commissioner for the Environment, declared: "the directive linking that Kyoto mechanisms to our emissions quotas trading system will bring costs down for businesses taking part in the exchange of emissions rights, and will give those investing in green technologies the security they need. It will also allow the transfer of clean technologies to developing countries".
The formal adoption of the text will take place without debate at a forthcoming session of the Council. The Member States will have twelve months after its publication in the Official Journal to transpose it into national law.