Europe Brings Emissions Trading to Upcoming Climate Conference

BRUSSELS, Belgium, December 3, 2004 (ENS) - The European Union will step up efforts to combat climate change alongside its international partners at the annual UN climate change conference starting Monday in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The meeting is taking place on the heels of Russia's ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, which makes the international agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions legally binding in February.

At the conference, the EU will present its emissions trading system, which is set to be launched on January 1, 2005.

European environmental officials see emissions trading as a concrete step towards achieving the EU commitment under the Kyoto Protocol to limit greenhouse gas emissions in a cost-efficient manner.

In office less than a month, Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas will represent the European Commission at the conference, which will bring together ministers and other senior representatives from 189 countries.

The ambitious agenda focuses on the successful implementation of the protocol and its market-based mechanisms.

Other important issues on the agenda are the support developing countries need to deal with the effects of climate change as well as a first discussion of future policies.

European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas of Greece (Photo courtesy European Commission)

"The implementation of the Kyoto Protocol will be a very important first step, but more needs to be done," said Dimas. "The Emissions Trading Scheme, which will take off in less than a month, shows that the EU is not shying away from its commitment to meet the Kyoto target. But it's clear that we can't succeed on our own - this is a global challenge that requires a global response."

Many climate studies have demonstrated that the average global average temperature has increased by 0.8° Celsius (1.4° Fahrenheit) between 1860 and 2000.

Just yesterday, Peter Stott from the Met Office's Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research in the UK published research showing that human burning of fossil fuels has raised concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and more than doubled the risk of recordbreaking hot European summers, like that of 2003 when more than 27,000 people died due to the heat.

In addition to keeping Europe cool, the EU is committed to assisting developing countries in dealing with the effects of climate change. To that end, it wishes to successfully conclude negotiations aimed at providing support to adaptation and mitigation policies in developing countries.

Dimas and the other EU delegates would like to stimulate the first informal discussions on a future international framework for fighting climate change since the emission reductions governed by the Kyoto Protocol extend only until 2012.

Another issue to which the EU is attaching importance is the smooth functioning of the Executive Board of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

Sunset over North Yorkshire, England. (Photo by Ian Britton courtesy FreeFoto)

This is expected to result in the transfer of advanced technologies to developing countries and support them in achieving sustainable development.

The CDM Executive Board is asked to endorse such projects, monitor them and approve the amount of credits they generate. But, at the moment, Dimas said, the Board is "understaffed and underfinanced, which has considerably slowed down its work."

Of the 189 countries that are Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, 128 are also Parties to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

The protocol requires that the 34 industrialized countries among them reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2 percent below 1990 levels until 2012.

The EU-15's target is a reduction of eight percent. In 2002, the reduction achieved stood at 2.9 percent.

Russia's recent ratification will bring the protocol into force on February 16, 2005, which means its provisions will become binding and that non-compliance will result in sanctions.