Brussels, 08/02/2005 (Agence Europe) - This Wednesday, the European Commission is to adopt a communication on climate change with reference to the EU's strategy post-2012, when the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol begins. It is worth noting that all the industrialised countries which have ratified the protocol must reduce their total emissions of a cocktail of six greenhouse gases by 5% between 2008 and 2012, and that the EU has collectively undertaken a reduction of 8%.
The document put together by initiative of Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas will announce the kind of commitment required to step up the fight against global warming, but will not be accompanied by any reduction objective in figures, as the Commission does not yet have a mandate for this. The Commission is, however, keeping one eye on the long-term objective of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (keeping the increase in the planet's temperature down to two degrees above pre-industrial levels). Doing this will require substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, at least 15% from 1990 levels by 2050. The priority areas of the action recommended by the Commission against this backdrop will be: including the United States in this process, as they have still not ratified the protocol despite being the biggest contributor to global emissions, but also emerging countries like China, Brazil and India, which must also commit to reduce their emissions; -the inclusion of new sectors such as aviation, maritime transport and deforestation activities in the Community system of trading in emissions quotas.
This communication will be the Commission's contribution to the forthcoming Spring Summit (22-23 March), and will be debated by the Environment Council of 10 March.
In June, the Commission will present a second communication which will take a more specific look at the future contribution of aviation and maritime transport to the fight against climate change.