Europe at fault for climate inaction
Poznan, POLAND, December 12, 2008 - The rich industrialised world, and most notably the European Union, is squarely to blame for the severe lack of progress made at United Nations climate talks in Poznan, Poland, according to Friends of the Earth Europe.
The EU's plans for reducing its own emissions - its much-hyped climate and energy package - was agreed by Heads of State in Brussels as world talks drew to a close and has been weakened dramatically in the final weeks. This reflects almost no genuine effort by European countries to achieve ambitious targets for reducing harmful emissions by 2020. Their backtracking has had a clear spillover effect preventing international negotiations from making any substantial progress.
"It is no surprise that so little progress has been made when Europe, the world's historical leader in the fight against climate change, has reduced its ambition so much. By failing to commit to take real action at home European governments have betrayed the trust developing nations were putting in them to save them from the worst impacts of climate change," said Magda Stoczkiewicz, director of Friends of the Earth Europe.
"Governments have left themselves a mountain to climb in 2009. Europe must rediscover its ambition and determination - it is going to take an almighty comeback to rescue its reputation as a climate leader and a satisfactory solution to the climate crisis."
An international agreement on reducing emissions after 2012 is no closer after the two weeks of talks - the text on targets for industrialised countries is the same as twelve months ago.
Negotiators did make progress on plans for a flow of money to developing countries to help them cope with the effects of climate change, but the fund comes after 16 years of delay by rich countries and is nowhere near enough.