EU TO PUSH FOR CONCRETE TALKS ON NEW CLIMATE DEAL IN BALI
12.4.07 - Leído 65 veces. Enviar esta notaHonor Mahony
International talks on how to fight global warming begin on Bali today with the EU hoping to push other countries to sign up to negotiations on another climate change treaty after the current one expires in 2012
BRUSSELS, Belgium; December 4, 2007.- High-level delegates from over 180 countries will gather on the Indonesian island to discuss how to step up protection of the environment with UN reports published earlier this year spelling out the practical effects of the current trend towards catastrophic global warming.
The 11-day conference is supposed to come to an agreement on how to continue with climate change measures after the current Kyoto protocol expires in just over four year’s time.
In order to prevent the disastrous predictions for the world, which include extreme weather patterns and rising sea levels, industrialised countries will be pushed to agree to much stronger emissions reduction levels from 2012.
For its part the EU is hoping to lead by example.
It recently announced that it would meet it own Kyoto targets and has announced a series of pollution-cutting targets, such as reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020.
EU environment commissioner Stavros Dimas, who will attend the Bali meeting, said “we must agree to launch negotiations on a global and comprehensive climate agreement and define a ‘roadmap’ setting out its main components.
“The conference must also fix the end of 2009 as the deadline for completing the negotiations.”
Agreeing a new deal by the end of 2009 would give countries enough time to ratify the document so that it can come into force as the Kyoto agreement expires.
The Bali talks have already been given a boost by Australia’s new prime minister Kevin Rudd, who signed up to the Kyoto protocol as his first act in office.
Australia’s move means the US remains alone as a major environment pollutant outside the treaty.
But according to Mr Dimas, there are “increasingly encouraging signals” that opposition to tackling climate change is lessening in the US.
The EU has also called on emerging economies such as Brazil, China and India, whose pollution emissions are soaring, to participate in a global deal, saying “we cannot fight climate change effectively” without them.
But to maintain its standing on the climate change issue, the EU will also have to get its own house in order.
Not only will it have to make good on its Kyoto targets - and reaching them is dependent on a series of measures yet to be taken - the EU must also concretely set out how it will reach its 2020 targets.
Practically, this means announcing legislative proposals on burden-sharing early next year and getting them through the Brussels legislative pipelines by the end of 2008 so that it will have a strong negotiating hand once the post-Kyoto talks start in 2009.
(EUobserver)
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