Brussels, 27/10/2008 (Agence Europe) -Although most of the attention of the 43 leaders of Asia and Europe, meeting in Beijing on 23-24 October for their twice-yearly ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting), was on the reform of the global financial system, the other hot topic - the fight against climate change - was somewhat eclipsed but not completely forgotten. Evidence of this is that the conclusions of the summit devote a chapter in the "Declaration of Beijing on sustainable development" to climate change and energy security. However, the progress made was modest and inversely proportionate to the length of the conclusions.
In the absence of a change in the position of the emerging countries, which still take the view that the commitments taken by the industrialised countries of the G8 are insufficient to convince them to commit to targeted objectives post-2012 themselves, the leaders of the EU and of the Asian countries stressed their willingness to cooperate with "determination and urgency", during the UN climate conference of Poznan (1-12 December) to reach an "efficient, effective and global" agreement in Copenhagen (December 2009).
"The financial crisis should not be an excuse to postpone our commitments on the fight against climate change", said José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission. The message was heard loud and clear as regards the objectives, but the difficulty continues to lie in finding common ground with the emerging and developing countries on the details of this global agreement, until the industrialised countries have put them on the table regarding ambitious objectives.
In their declaration, the two sides state that they acknowledged the importance of attacking the problem of climate change and stressed the need for a shared long-term vision for cooperation, including the global long-term objective of reducing emissions, in order to achieve the ultimate objective of the Framework Convention of the United Nations on climate change (keeping the average increase in temperatures at 2°C) and allowing its effective and sustainable implementation, on the basis of "principles of joint responsibilities and respective capacities, and taking account of economic and social considerations as well as other factors". They also stress that in order to be credible, this shared vision demands that all of the developed countries pave the way by committing to objectives on the reduction of emissions, which must be binding, ambitious and comparable.
In order to achieve this, the leaders of the ASEM state that the developed countries should continue to show strong leadership and to take appropriate national commitments to combat climate change, with quantified objectives for the limitation and reduction of emissions. These countries should also provide financial support and transfers of technology for the developing countries.
The developing countries, for their part, will adopt appropriate actions at national level in the framework of sustainable development, which will be supported and made possible by technology, funding resources and the construction of capacity. The objective is to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases as they would be if policy remains unchanged.
The two sides also stress the importance of reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. Taking the view that adapting to climate change is vital to face up to the effects of the phenomenon in all countries, but particularly the developing countries, the Europeans and the Asians stress that their partners should work together to reinforce the capacity of the developing countries to adapt to climate change.
The declaration also calls for reinforced cooperation for the development and transfer of technologies, the mobilisation of public and private funding and the creation of innovative funding means to help the developing countries in their efforts to adapt to climate change and to combat its effects. Both sides welcome the convocation of the first ministerial ASEM conference on energy security (to be held in Brussels in the first half of 2009) and urged all partners of the ASEM to reinforce their cooperation to contribute to global energy security. (A.N./trans.fl)