Tijdelijke commissie voor klimaatverandering wil halvering van broeikasgassen in 2050 (en)

Binding emissions targets for all industrialised countries; a global "cap and trade" system; and a 50% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by the middle of this century should be some of the EU's core targets for the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference, says a resolution adopted by the Temporary Committee on Climate Change on Monday evening.

Commitments made under the Kyoto Protocol for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions run to 2012. It is the EU's aim to ensure that the 3-14 December 2007 UN Conference in Bali marks the first step in building a post-2012 framework on tackling climate change.

EU's leading role on climate change

The European Union, MEPs in the committee stress, must confirm its "leading role" at Bali, ensuring that Conference members begin to establish "a realistic framework for an international post-2012 climate agreement". A future climate change regime, they add, should be based on the principles and mechanisms of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol.

The target for the EU at the Bali conference, according to the resolution, drafted by Satu Hassi (Greens/EFA, FI), should centre on the long term goal of limiting average global temperature increase to below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. This, notes the text, effectively means reducing global greenhouse gas emissions "by at least 50% by 2050 compared to the 1990 level". Even then, the text says the latest evidence suggests that the 2°C goal "might not be sufficient to avoid significant negative effects of climate change".

Binding targets and a global "cap and trade" scheme

The mandate should also be based on the following elements:

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  binding targets for all industrialised countries;
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  broader participation in reduction efforts, in particular by emerging economies through fair and proportionate targets;
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  a global "cap and trade" system based on a fair and proportionate allocation of quotas;
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  strengthened financial mechanisms for adaptation;
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  effective incentives to avoid deforestation (accounting for some 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions) , including the promotion of sustainable agricultural practices;
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  instruments, financial and other, for clean development and technology transfer and deployment (including further development of the Clean Development Mechanism;
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  agreement by 2009 at the latest.

Unequal impact of climate change

The adverse consequences of climate change are distributed unequally, the committee notes. In addition to being an "environmental catastrophe", they add, climate change also raises issues of human rights and global equity. It is therefore a "moral obligation" for the EU and other industrialised nations to assist developing countries. More economically advanced developing nations, however, ought to "be able to begin emission or carbon intensity reductions as soon their development permits, at the latest by 2020". Industrialised countries, meanwhile, must lead by example, MEPs insist, committing themselves to reducing emissions "by at least 30% by 2020 and 60% - 80% by 2050 compared to 1990".

Parliament will send a delegation of MEPs to take part in the conference from 11-14 December.