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The first week of Copenhagen climate change discussions is approaching its end. With this, the focus will gradually shift to Brussels, where EU leaders will be holding a meeting to remove differences on climate policy, before giving a final push to arrive at a universal consensus on the issue.
Some are of the opinion that EU summit may help find measures to ward off the uproar taking place among the growing economies by spreading of the so-called Danish agreement and deny charges that Brussels is trying to indulge the US, to the disadvantage of the rest of the world. However, many experts believe that any major change in the European stance should not be expected.
In the two-day EU summit, issues of financing and emission reductions will be discussed. EU was the first main group to accept to provide financial assistance to the developing economies to deal with the effects of climate change. However, the 27-members nation has not been able to give any precise figures yet to the table before the meet at Copenhagen.
The meet, the last to take place under the Swedish presidency, will hence concentrate partly on declaring a short-term monetary package for growing nations to step up their measures to tackle global warming.
During the October meet, EU leaders agreed that about 5-7 billion as a part of global financing would be required on an annual basis in 2010-2013 to initiate climate adaptation projects in the growing world. The European Commission has invited member-states to give up to 2 bn per year of this amount. In the beginning of this week, Sweden promised a 750 million contribution towards the 3 year target and Britain has already provided $1.3 bn.
The final figure to be announced by EU is fully dependent on the contributions to be offered from France and Germany. It will be a voluntary decision, as Poland and rest of the Central and East European nations have already declared that they are not so financially strong to provide help in this regard.
The figures for medium and longer term monetary assistance are far more debatable and probably will not be disclosed in this meet. The European Commission has projected a need for 100 billion by 2020 on an annual basis.
Apart from funds, EU leaders will also take final decision on emission reduction targets. They have already promised to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020 in comparison to 1990 levels. In one of the similar events, the other major participants decided for 30% cuts.
Political parties and environmental groups are, nevertheless, asking Brussels to go for one-sided commitment of 30% reductions to give a boost to the Copenhagen talks. They are of the opinion that 20% target is too easy and too less.
“Present offer of 20 per cent would actually mean slowing down the current pace of emission reductions in Europe”, says the Head of EU Climate and Energy Policy at WWF, Mr. Jason Anderson. The WWF has shown many loopholes in the climate target set by EU, inclusive of the fact that the carbon offsets Europe is taking at present affect the amount of cuts it makes locally.
In another report issued by climate consultancy Ecofys criticisms were also raised against the EU’s claim to be leader in international climate policy. The report says that major portion of emission cuts that has happened in European nations till now is “due to coincidence”, in stead of any intentional climate policies. According to the report, the pledge to introduce 20% emission cuts is not sufficient to curb growing global temperatures to below 2 degrees Centigrade.
Bas Eickhout, Dutch Greens MEP, presenting his reports at the European Parliament, told its discoveries “explode the myth that emerging economies are not willing to contribute to efforts to mitigate climate change”.
He said the report pointed out that developing nations like India, China and Brazil were doing more in comparison to developed nations to curb global warming.
According to analysts, EU leaders are unlikely to go for any deeper targets for emission cuts. Poland and other eastern European nations have already opposed the idea of further reductions. European businesses have also expressed their discontent over the issue. They have urged EU to wait for the decision of other main economies so that their competitiveness is not hampered.
President of Business Europe, Mr. Jürgen Thumann contended that US President Barack Obama’s pledge to reduce emissions by around 3% in comparison to 1990 standards “cannot be considered an ‘equivalent’ effort justifying an EU move to a 30 per cent reduction”.
Also, it is anticipated that any declaration of further cuts or more funding by the EU might estrange the Americans, which may in turn result in irking Washington when it has decided to come together to limit global warming.
Business Standard
December 11, 2009
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