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Europe misses chance to agree
ambitious action agenda for next climate negotiations
UK minister Elliot Morley meeting Friends
of the Earth Europe to receive a stack of 27 painted messages, one
for each EU-25 Environment Minister as well as the ministers of
Bulgaria and Romania. The painted messages were distributed to the
EU Environment Ministers just before the start of the Council meeting.
More images, free to
use, are available here.
EU Environment Council confronted with
European demands to do more on climate change
LUXEMBOURG/BRUSSELS, 18 OCTOBER 2005 --
As EU Environment Ministers agreed the EU's position towards the
next UN climate negotiations taking place next month in Montreal,
Canada, Friends of the Earth Europe warns that by yesterday's agreement
the EU is endangering international leadership previously demonstrated
by the EU on climate change.
Jan Kowalzig, climate campaigner at Friends of
the Earth Europe, said:
"We had hoped for a much better outcome of today's meeting,
given that warnings about the terrible impacts of climate change
are growing louder every day. The ministers had grand words to illustrate
the current climate crisis and the urgency to act, but failed to
turn it into an ambitious action agenda for the global climate talks
in Montreal."
"The European Union cannot afford to give up its leadership
role, if it aims to limit the economic, environmental and human
costs of global climate change. Europe should make clear in Montreal,
that a new phase of commitments must be negotiated until 2007 or
2008 latest and result in deeper, absolute and mandatory emission
cuts by industrialised
countries."
Friends of the Earth Europe in particular criticises that ministers
failed to agree a date by which the EU would aim to finalise international
negotiations, given the urgency of the issue and the time needed
for implementation on the domestic level. Also, from an earlier
draft, a text on mid- and long-term targets for emission reductions
by industrialised countries has been deleted and replaced by a mere
reference to earlier agreements. On the positive side, Friends of
the Earth welcomed the reiteration of the EU's target to keep the
global average temperature increase below 2°C [1].
When Ministers arrived for their meeting, they were welcomed by
a 100m long wall of "climate messages", painted by thousands of
citizens across Europe, demanding that the EU must take the climate
crisis much more seriously. UK Environment Minister Elliot Morley
received a stack of such painted climate messages, one for each
EU Environment
Minister. [2]
Jan Kowalzig continued:
"These messages leave no doubt that Europeans demand more action
from their leaders, both at the UN climate talks and on the domestic
level, but European countries fail to even meet the meagre targets
under the Kyoto Protocol."
"Countries fear that real action to reduce emissions would harm
the economy. These fears ignore the huge economic and financial
impacts that climate change will have on Europe. And they also ignore
the economic potential through triggering innovation as well as
competitive advantages in a world that will increasingly need cleaner
energy."
Contact:
Jan Kowalzig, Climate campaigner, Friends of the Earth Europe
Phone: +32-2-5426102
Mobile: +32-473-510147
Notes:
[1] The text of the council conclusion is available at
http://ue.eu.int/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/en/envir/86625.pdf.
A background briefing by Friends of the Earth is available here.
[2] Thousands of painted climate messages, coming from 30 European
countries, have been collected over the past months. The installation
today marked the end of the European dimension of the campaign;
now the messages will be sent to Montreal, where a giant installation
will be set up just outside the UN climate negotiations. Pictures
of today's action and the hand-over of the messages personally addressed
to EU-25 Environment Ministers are available, in high resolution
and free to use, at:
http://www.foeeurope.org/press/2005/JK_17_Oct_Council.htm
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.
