Jun 22 2009
The European Union is delaying the ongoing climate negotiations, WWF said after the bloc’s Council once again failed to declare how much it planned to contribute to the global fight against devastating climate change.
The European Council has discussed climate change during its latest meeting but it has only come up with vague statements and did not put any figure it was prepared to commit to, or detail the mechanisms for raising funds for climate change.
“European leaders were right to state that the time has now come for the international community to speed up the pace of negotiations and take the commitments needed to limit global warming to under 2°C. The question inevitably arises, therefore, why they didn’t make a decision that actually supports such goals?” said Jason Anderson, Head of European Climate and Energy Policy at WWF.
“The EU is playing a delaying tactic which cannot help ensure an ambitious deal by the UN Copenhagen summit. Europe needs to make progress on the key issues, and not look elsewhere for leadership.”
After the timid performance of the Czech Presidency of the EU, WWF urges the upcoming Swedish presidency to guide Europe towards Copenhagen.
Establishing a clear roadmap that does not leave all critical decisions to the final Council before Copenhagen should be one of the crucial first steps, WWF says.
In light of the 2-degree goal, Europe’s 20% commitment of emissions reductions by 2020 is not ambitious enough, nor would a 30% target if this is to be diluted by buying offset credits from developing countries.
Europe’s minimum commitment should be to 30% achieved at home, and an additional 15% supported through financing in developing countries.
Europe and other developed countries will need to be fully decarbonised by 2050.