Brussels, 03/03/2009 (Agence Europe) - It will have taken endless hours of discussion and all the stubbornness that could be mustered by Martin Bursík, Czech Environment Minister who chaired the 2 March Environment Council, to bring about the adoption of conclusions on the position that the EU should defend in UN climate talks. The aim of the talks is to reach an ambitious comprehensive agreement on climate protection after 2012, by the Copenhagen meeting in December 2009 (EUROPE 9852). The conclusions, which are part of the Environment Council's contribution to the European Council on 19 and 20 March, have already received the backing of all delegations except that of Poland. The latter was unable to agree to the paragraph on financing required to help developing countries - which are the most heavily hit by global warming although they are not responsible for it - to adjust to climate changes. Stanislav Gawlowski, Polish Secretary of State, explained to his colleagues that he had not received a negotiating brief from his government on anything in this respect. Attempts by Martin Bursík to enter into telephone contact with Polish Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek were in vain. It will therefore be up to the European Council to settle the question at the highest level - to the great disappointment of the European environmental and development NGOs.
The paragraph of the conclusions on financing restate the Council's wish to explore in more detail practical means of financing reduction of global warming, adjustment, technological support and the development of capacities. The Council invites the Spring Summit to examine what options should be retained for generating financial support, focusing on the two options on the table (annual commitment on the part of wealthy countries whose contribution would be based on their level of emissions, or the market mechanism levying part of the auction receipts to be paid into a fund - see EUROPE 9852), or a combination of these two solutions, if not other solutions still. The Council notes that these solutions could be completed by the funding that a global instrument would generate, aimed at tackling the problem of emissions from aviation and maritime transport.
“We have worked hard all day. We have managed to adopt conclusions, which I am 99% pleased with. The Presidency had prepared 17 pages of detailed and highly practical conclusions on climate change. We have managed to take the positions of member states into account, except for one paragraph - supported by 26 member states - for which we leave it up to the European Council to decide”, Martin Bursík told the press. The Ecofin Council on 10 March will study this matter in advance, as will the General Affairs/External Relations Council, with regard to development aspects. Stressing the range of European commitment, Mr Bursík added: “The EU is the only group of countries in the world that has adopted binding targets for reducing climate change. This is a commitment to reduce greenhouse gases by 30% by 2020. Our hope is that the United States will follow suit. As leaders of climate policy, we call on the other developed countries to make their own proposals, together with medium term targets. This is necessary so that we may agree with the G77 countries and thus ensure talks will be successful”. The President welcomed the support given by Council to the criteria of comparability of efforts made by industrialised countries - “equitable criteria for medium and long-term commitments” that “we shall propose to the other developed countries so that they can decide”.
The Council encourages developing countries to reduce their emissions by 15 to 30% compared to the “business as usual” scenario, and to take on a low carbon emission development plan to achieve this, which will then be supported by developed countries. “We are speaking here of financing. We recognise that substantial financial support is necessary”, said Martin Bursík, citing estimated figures given by the secretariat of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change and the European Commission: - the sum of €23-54 billion annually between now and 2020 for adjustment of developing countries, and €175 billion between 2013 and 2020 for reduction of global warming. “We know what financing is necessary to stabilise the climate at world level, that is, to ensure that the rise in average temperature does not exceed 2 degrees centigrade”, he said. Martin Bursík takes the view that these conclusions strengthen the EU's position on the international scene. He is confident that, in June, the EU will have the mandate allowing it to negotiate the final text of the global agreement to be concluded in Copenhagen, as the guidelines set out by the Environment Council will allow experts to begin preparing documents with a view to the Copenhagen meeting.
Progress made at the first UN preparatory meeting, in Bonn at the end of March, will be debated by EU environment ministers at their informal meeting in Prague on 14-16 April (not June as initially planned). On behalf of the European Commission, Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said how important this year of negotiation was. He said a global agreement at Copenhagen was “not only possible”, given the encouraging signs from the United States and other parts of the world, “but imperative”. The Commission's communication of 28 January, containing proposals for an agreement at Copenhagen allowed the EU to agree its position and to indicate to the international community the kind of global agreement the EU expected, and the essential points it should contain. The aim of the Council conclusions was not to set a definitive position in stone, but to address a message to the EU's international partners, he said. The message was that the EU had a clear vision for Copenhagen, that it was ready to commit itself fully to negotiations on an agreement when they began in Bonn at the end of March, he added.
He welcomed the Council's level of agreement on the scale of the additional financial efforts needed to help developing countries, but acknowledged that there was no consensus on the funding mechanism. No matter what, the carbon market will have an important role to play. “We will have to begin thinking about mechanisms to be able to raise the funds,” the Commissioner said, “confident that the European Council will be able to draw satisfactory conclusions”. (A.N./transl.jl/rt)