Environment ministers fail to salvage EU climate leadership

Greenpeace EU climate policy director Joris den Blanken said: “Environment ministers have shown they only see climate change as a political issue, but really it’s about people having access to water and food; it’s about protecting your home, and ultimately it’s about life or death. As it stands, the EU’s reduction target and its financial commitments are simply not good enough to achieve a breakthrough in Copenhagen that will protect us from the dangers of climate change. The longer we wait, the higher the human, environmental and financial cost of climate change will be. EU leaders meeting next week have the power to change the fate of the planet. They must embrace it or we will face the dire consequences.”

Environment ministers have only reiterated a conditional commitment to a 30% cut under a global agreement in Copenhagen. But countries such as Japan and Norway have already committed to strong cuts that are in line with recommendations from the world’s leading scientists.[1] On top of this, ministers want to allow countries to use emission credits that are set to expire in 2012 (known as leftover AAUs), under the future Copenhagen climate treaty, but have failed to raise the EU target accordingly.

On Monday, the European Parliament’s environment committee adopted a resolution which explicitly recognises that the EU should reduce its emissions by 40% by 2020, in order to act in line with climate science.

Shipping and aviation
Environment ministers have proposed targets for reductions in global emissions from shipping and aviation (by 20% and 10% respectively, compared to 2005 levels). With shipping and aviation emissions unchecked and on the increase, Greenpeace welcomes this initiative, but criticises the fact that shipping and aviation still get special treatment. "Under current proposals, shipping and aviation will actually be allowed to increase emissions by one third, compared to 1990 levels. This gives them an unfair advantage over other sectors,” said den Blanken.

Deforestation
On a positive note, EU environment ministers have confirmed their concern regarding the introduction of forest offset credits in carbon markets, because of their destabilising effect. Ministers have also supported public funding to finance initial measures to conserve biodiversity and to stop deforestation. But there is still confusion on how exactly the most expensive phase of this mechanism will be financed.

Greenpeace EU forest policy director Sébastien Risso said: “The EU has accumulated a historical carbon debt by fuelling deforestation abroad. It is now the responsibility of European leaders to commit a substantial amount of public funding to stop the last remaining tropical forests from going up in smoke.”