Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-11-24-Speech-2-008"
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"Mr President, honourable Members, the last time I was here in Parliament to discuss climate issues was just before I met with my colleagues at the October meeting of the Environment Council. At that meeting, we agreed on the EU’s strong and collective mandate in preparation for the UN climate conference in Copenhagen. We established, among other things, that by 2050, the EU’s emissions need to be reduced by 80–95% compared to 1990 levels. We also determined that the EU will, in any event, reduce emissions by 20% by 2020, but that we will reduce them by 30% if a sufficiently ambitious agreement is reached in Copenhagen.
The EU has, in particular, been a driving force for the rapid provision of money for adaptation measures and measures to prevent the deforestation of rainforests. Rapid action is required to enable us to change the Earth’s emissions curve to a downwards trend quickly.
What is currently on the table is not sufficient overall to achieve the two degree target. The most ambitious offers on the negotiating table are those tabled by us in the EU, just as we have been a driving force to get other parties to raise their offers. This has also happened. We have seen that the fact that we have used our 30% target as a leveraging tool has also put pressure on others parties. It is gratifying that developed countries like Norway and Japan have increased their offers, as has Russia recently, and that developing countries like South Korea, Brazil and Indonesia have also recently presented ambitious plans. We will continue to press forward on this. Our 30% shall also continue to be used as a leveraging tool. We are now waiting in particular for the US and China.
We note that President Obama has said that an agreement should neither contain only certain elements nor merely be a political declaration. He has also agreed that it should contain all of the key elements as well as the measures that can be initiated immediately. An agreement in Copenhagen must cover all of the world’s emissions. Without an offer from the US and China, only half of this is covered. Let me say this very clearly: an agreement may entirely depend on the US and China tabling sufficiently ambitious offers.
The EU will continue to press for adequate measures to be tabled in the negotiations. Two weeks before the final negotiations, we will continue to maintain our leadership. I look forward to the continued cooperation with Parliament, particularly through the COP15 group that will be on site in Copenhagen. I look forward to the dialogue. With our joint forces, we will together work to bring about a very successful, ambitious and genuine agreement in Copenhagen.
In comparing this with other countries’ emissions reductions, we will place particular importance on the objective of limiting the temperature increase to two degrees – that must be the yardstick for comparing our emissions reductions with those of other countries. Emissions from international transport must be reduced. We have set a reduction target for aviation of 10% and for shipping of 20% by 2020 compared with 2005 levels. I would also like to make it clear that the EU is also demanding that taxes on shipping and aviation be used to pay for measures in developing countries, particularly in the poorest countries and those that are hardest hit. That must be one of the results of Copenhagen.
The destruction of the rainforest must be halved by 2020 and have ceased by 2030. The EU will demand that the Copenhagen Summit take a decision to stop the deforestation of rainforests, support reforestation and create sustainable forestry. This is the only way we can reduce emissions sufficiently quickly and achieve a successful outcome in Copenhagen. The EU has clarified and advanced its positions each step of the way and has thus been able to make demands and put pressure on other parties all the way along. A lot of this has been achieved in cooperation with the European Parliament, with the climate and energy package forming the basis for the EU’s ambitious positions.
Now there are just two weeks left before the climate summit in Copenhagen. We are surrounded by a lot of pessimists, who have been lining the finishing straight over the last few months. However, in reality, what counts is the political will for leadership – and that is something that the EU has. In order to achieve the result that we have worked for for so long, we must now mobilise all forces within the European Union. In this regard, Parliament, in particular, will continue to have an important role.
Thus, let me first establish that the EU’s goal for an agreement has not changed. We need to reach an ambitious and comprehensive agreement in Copenhagen. The Earth’s climate has waited long enough. Now it is time for an agreement.
Yesterday, we held an extraordinary meeting of the Environment Council in order to be able, with combined force, to make Copenhagen the milestone in our work on climate change that we want it to be. In the EU’s decision ahead of the Copenhagen conference, the Heads of State or Government have determined that the EU’s goal is for the Copenhagen process to lead to a legally binding agreement for the period starting 1 January 2013, based on the Kyoto Protocol and containing all of the essential elements. It requires an agreement in Copenhagen which, overall, achieves large enough reductions in emissions for the target to keep the Earth’s temperature increase to below two degrees to be within reach. An agreement with all countries that will result in each developed country undertaking to reduce its total emissions, in other words, an economy-wide target; we need all developed countries to link their commitments to the agreement in Copenhagen, including the US. An agreement that will result in developing countries committing to take measures to reduce emissions to below what they would have been if no measures were taken, particularly in those countries belonging to the major economies, and developed countries providing immediate financial aid for necessary measures in developing countries, particularly in the poorest countries, during 2010, 2011 and 2012. An agreement that results in the creation of a system of long-term support for reduced emissions, adaptation, technical cooperation and technology transfer.
Finally, the agreement must include a review mechanism so that it can be adapted to whatever science shows to be necessary to manage the climate.
There is now talk of a ‘two stage solution’. However, for the EU, the agreement in Copenhagen is the crucial step. It is in Copenhagen that the decision should be taken, and that decision should include everything that is important for the climate. The binding agreement should be transferred, according to a clear timetable, to a ratifiable text, which is more of a technicality, as the content should be provided in an ambitious agreement.
Thus, an agreement in Copenhagen will open the way for immediate measures to be taken instead of waiting until 2013. In fact, we could also instigate measures quicker through this kind of agreement than through what would otherwise have been the case. It will also be crucial in us achieving the two degree target."@en1
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