Toespraak Zweedse minister van Milieu over de Klimaat Conferentie in Kopenhagen

Mr Chairman, Honourable Members,

The last time I was here to speak with you in Parliament was just before I met my colleagues at the Environment Council’s October meeting. There we agreed on a strong, comprehensive negotiating mandate for the EU ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

Among other things, we established that

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  by 2050, the EU should reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by 80-95 per cent, compared with 1990 levels.
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  irrespective of other circumstances, the EU will reduce emissions by 20 per cent by 2020, but we want to reduce them by 30 per cent if other parties are willing to commit to sufficient emissions reductions.
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  when we compare other industrialised countries’ emissions reductions, we will use several criteria, but primarily keep the target of stopping the rise in temperature to 2º Celsius as a benchmark.
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  emissions from international transport are to be reduced. A 10 per cent reduction for air transport and a 20 per cent reduction for maritime transport compared with 2005 levels are needed by 2020. The EU calls for the Copenhagen Conference to lead to the use of fees from air and maritime transport to pay for initiatives in developing countries, particularly the very poorest ones.
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  rainforest devastation must be halved by 2020 and stopped by 2030. The EU is calling for the Copenhagen Conference to take decisions to stop rainforest devastation, support reforestation and create sustainable forestry. This is the only way to reduce emissions fast enough and achieve success in Copenhagen.

Step by step the EU has clarified and moved its positions forward, thus being able to place demands and press the other parties throughout the process. This has taken place, particularly in cooperation with the European Parliament, where the climate and energy package forms the basis of the EU’s ambitious positions in the climate negotiations. Now only a little over two weeks is left until the Climate Change Conference starts in Copenhagen. All around us there are many pessimists who have been standing on the sidelines this last month to watch the finish. But what counts is the political will for leadership. And the EU is certainly showing this will! But to achieve the results that we have been working towards for so long, we now need to mobilise all the forces in the European Union. The European Parliament will continue to play a very important role in this. Let me therefore make it clear: The EU’s aims for an agreement are unchanged! Reaching an ambitious and comprehensive agreement in Copenhagen is essential. The Earth’s climate has waited long enough. The time for an agreement is now. Yesterday we held an extra Environment Council to enable us to join forces to drive the Copenhagen Conference into becoming the milestone in climate efforts that we have wanted. In the EU decision ahead of Copenhagen, the EU heads of state and government have established the goal for the entire Copenhagen process to lead to “a legally binding agreement for the period starting 1 January 2013 that builds on the Kyoto Protocol and incorporates all its essentials”. This presupposes an agreement in Copenhagen that, in total, achieves emissions reductions that are large enough to keep the goal of limiting global warming to under 2º Celsius within reach. An agreement with all countries:

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  where the industrialised countries commit themselves to emissions reductions that cover the total emissions of that country (economy-wide), This is conditional on all industrialised countries combining their emissions targets into an agreement.
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  where the developing countries commit themselves to measures to reduce emissions relative to those they would otherwise have produced, particularly the large economies and the major emitting countries included in major economies.
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  where the industrialised countries provide immediate financial support to necessary measures in developing countries over the next few years, i.e. 2010, 2011 and 2012.
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  where a system is created for long-term support to emissions reductions, adaptation, technological cooperation and technology transfer.

Finally, the agreement also needs to contain a review mechanism so that it can be subsequently adapted to scientific evidence for measures that are necessary in order to manage the climate. There is now talk of a ‘two-step solution’. For the EU, the agreement in Copenhagen is rather the decisive step. It is in Copenhagen that the decision must be taken, containing all that is important to save the climate. With a clear timetable, the binding agreement is to be translated into a ratifiable text, which ought to be a more technical issue, since the contents will be delivered in an ambitious agreement. In this way, an agreement in Copenhagen will also open the way for immediate measures, instead of waiting until 2013. Measures can be initiated earlier than would otherwise be the case. The EU has primarily been proactive in pressing for rapid funds for adaptation measures and initiatives to prevent rainforest devastation. This is necessary: We must take rapid action if we are to divert the global emissions curve downwards. Rapid action is crucial if we are to have any possibility of keeping global warming below 2 degrees Celsius. Taken together, the action currently proposed is insufficient to manage the 2º goal. With the most far-reaching bid on the table, we in the EU have been proactive in working to persuade other parties to raise their bids. And this has also happened. It is pleasing that industrialised countries like Norway and Japan have raised their bids, as did Russia recently, and that developing countries such as South Korea, Brazil and Indonesia have also recently presented ambitious plans. We will continue to keep up the pressure. Our 30 per cent will continue to be used as a lever. Now we are waiting, especially for the USA and China. We note that President Obama has spoken of an agreement that does not just cover certain aspects nor is solely a political declaration, but contains all the central parts, with measures that can be launched immediately. An agreement in Copenhagen must cover all the emissions of the world. Without a bid from the USA and China, only half the emissions are covered. Let me state this clearly: An agreement can stand or fall with sufficient bids from the USA and China. The EU will continue to press for sufficient commitments to be put on the table. Two weeks before the final negotiations we will continue to maintain our leadership. I look forward to continued cooperation and dialogue with the European Parliament, not least through the COP 15 Group that will be in Copenhagen. Together with our combined forces we can take action for a sucessful agreement in Copenhagen.