Brussels, 28 January – Documents unveiled today by the European Commission describing its vision for a global agreement on tackling climate change lack the cash and credibility the world needs, says Friends of the Earth Europe.
The text is the first draft of the European Union’s position for international negotiations on a post-2012 climate agreement due to be made at UN talks in Copenhagen in December. It details measures to cut global greenhouse gas levels and schemes to give developing countries the money they need to reduce their emissions and deal with the impacts of climate change.
Whilst Friends of the Earth Europe acknowledges that the document is at least a starting point for discussion, the commitments proposed are not enough to ensure a successful outcome to the crucial international negotiations.
The Commission proposes that all developed countries including the EU should reduce their emissions by 30% below 1990 levels by 2020. Friends of the Earth Europe believes 40% emission cuts within the EU are necessary to limit global warming to less than two degrees and avoid the most severe consequences of climate change. [1]
Esther Bollendorff, climate campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe said: “These plans lack cash and real credibility. Europe continues to fail to live up to its historical obligations for causing climate change and jeopardises the chances of a satisfactory solution to the climate crisis. Europe accounts for 30% of developed countries emissions and 22% of global GDP – for these reasons it must live up to its responsibilities and commit to adequate action at home.”
The Commission’s proposal was further weakened in last minute changes which saw concrete numbers on financial commitments from developed countries for the support of clean energy, forest protection and climate adaptation in developing countries removed from the paper. This is a fundamental flaw according to Friends of the Earth Europe which believes that at least €100 billion is needed annually from 2020 onwards. Of this the EU should contribute its fair share of at least €30 billion per year. More funding needs to be made available urgently and before 2013.
“The Commission has failed to identify the money needed to make the EU and other industrialised countries pay their climate debt and help bring developing countries on a sustainable low carbon development path. These proposals must be strengthened in the coming weeks and months,” says Esther Bollendorff.
***
NOTES:
[1] A scenario with only 30% reduction from industrialised countries by 2020 entails a significant risk of overshooting the dangerous climate threshold of two degrees Celsius of global warming. Deeper greenhouse gas emissions cuts (in line with the higher end of the 25-40% range indicated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for industrialised countries are necessary to ensure a higher level of certainty of averting dangerous climate change. Recent scientific findings such as from the Tallberg Foundation and the Stockholm Environment Institute, available at http://www.tallbergfoundation.org/Portals/0/Documents/Grasping_the_climate_crisis.pdf and from the Tyndall Centre (Reframing the climate challenge in light of post 2000 emission trends, Anderson and Bows, September 2008) also justify a higher domestic reduction level by developed countries.
