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Montreal: Europe heading for dead end in U.N. Climate Talks
Brussels/Montreal: As EU environment ministers leave Europe for the
high-level segment of the UN climate negotiations in Montreal [1],
Friends of the Earth Europe called on the EU's Environment Ministers to
rethink the EU's negotiation strategy.
Jan Kowalzig from Friends of the Earth Europe said:
"The EU's Environment Ministers must not forget that Europe has sent
them to Montreal to secure a robust framework for negotiations to win
the battle against global climate change. Their negotiators, who have
been around for more than a week now, aim for an agreement that is
acceptable for the Bush Administration. But the US negotiators have
announced they will water it down to voluntary or no action, making it
not worth the paper it is written on."
Friends of the Earth Europe believes the EU must not only secure a
negotiation mandate on further and deeper greenhouse gas emission cuts
by industrialised countries, but also hammer home a deal for
negotiating the broader climate regime after 2012, when current
provisions of the Kyoto Protocol end. This must include a package to
help the poorest countries to adapt to the impacts of climate change as
well as enabling developing countries like China or Brazil to develop
in a sustainable manner. [2]
Friends of the Earth Europe in particular warns EU Environment
Ministers, that including the current US Administration in the ongoing
negotiations will make it impossible to achieve a meaningful agreement
for negotiating the broader climate regime after 2012 under the UN
Climate Convention. [3]
Jan Kowalzig continues:
"If the EU wants the US to join the climate regime in the future, the
best way to achieve that is to not let the Bush Administration hold the
world hostage now, says Friends of the Earth Europe. Consequently, the
EU must promote an agreement between the parties that have signed and
ratified the Kyoto Protocol. There, the US only has observers status
and cannot undermine progress."
Friends of the Earth notes that the US will have the possibility to
join the climate regime at any moment in the future and that it is high
likely that the increasing pressure to reap the economic, environmental
and social benefits of progressive action will eventually convince the
US to do so. [4]
Contact:
Jan Kowalzig, Friends of the Earth Europe
in Montreal: +1-917-709 5463 (mobile)
(english/german)
Markus Steigenberger, Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND)
in Montreal: +1-514-578 56 19 (mobile)
(english/german)
Donald Pols, Friends of the Earth Netherlands (Milieudefensie)
in Montreal: +31-6-208 010 96 (mobile)
(english/dutch)
Lauri Myllyvirta, Friends of the Earth Finland (Maan ystävät)
in Montreal: +358 50 3625 981 (mobile)
(english/finnish)
Notes:
[1] From 28 November to 9 December, world governments meet in Montreal
for the first meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (MOP) as
well as the eleventh session of the Conference of the Parties to the
Climate Change Convention (COP). The high level ministerial segment
will start on Wednesday, 7th December. See also
http://unfccc.int/meetings/cop_11/items/3394.php
[2] A detailed position the Montreal climate negotiations is available
from Friends of the Earth Europe's web site at
http://www.foeeurope.org/climate/download/FoEE_COPMOP_positionpaper.pdf
[3] If a decision was agreed under the Kyoto Protocol from 1997, rather
than the Convention from 1992, the US would not be able to block it as
it is not a Party to the Protocol. Also, the Kyoto Protocol provides a
much miore robust framework for discussing the future of the climate
regime, other than the Convention that focuses on voluntary measures
only.
[4] Not the whole country agrees with the US Administration. For
example, the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement unites more than
180 mayors representing nearly 40 million Americans, demanding action
on the federal level; California, the fifth largest economy in the
World, aims at an 80 per cent reduction from 1990 levels by 2050. Nine
States aim at cutting back their emissions to 2000 levels. With a keen
eye on the emissions trading market and the growing demand for clean
energy technologies, many US businesses would like to see the US re-
join the climate regime sooner rather than later.
Friends of the Earth Europe campaigns for sustainable and fair societies and for the protection of the environment,
unites more than 30 national organisations with thousands of local groups
and is part of the world's largest grassroots environmental network, Friends of the Earth International.
