European Ministers' Climate Strategy Stalled

LUXEMBOURG, October 28, 2003 (ENS) - Environment ministers failed to agree at their council meeting in Luxembourg Monday on a single European Union position for reducing the emission of greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. The attempt was made to state a unified position for the upcoming ninth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP9).

Council President and Italian Environment Minister Altero Matteoli adjourned Monday's council meeting due to a deadlock over two key elements of the draft resolution setting forth the EU's position for the talks. The Presidency said it would call an extraordinary council meeting to settle these differences immediately before COP9.

Italian Environment Minister Altero Matteoli (Photo courtesy Office of the Minister)

Negotiations at COP9 will focus on measures and projects for the reduction of global emissions in the medium to long term. These measures include the Kyoto Protocol, an agreement under the climate change convention that establishes a 5.2 percent reduction in gas emissions compared to 1990 levels.

Monday's talks foundered on flexible measures in the Kyoto Protocol that permit industrialized countries, such as EU member states, to gain emissions credits by investing in reductions of greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries not governed by the protocol.

Italy insisted that the EU resolution state that European firms would be able to buy greenhouse gas reduction credits directly from 2005 by linking the Kyoto Protocol's flexible mechanisms to the European Union's new emissions trading scheme.

Most ministers oppose this, since EU legislation to build the link is still distant.

The European Commission tabled its proposal only in July; it wants a start date of 2008 and has some support in the council. A first discussion of the details of the plan was postponed on Monday because of the impasse.

Italy says the European Union needs to commit to earlier linking so as to lure Russia into ratifying the protocol and to prompt firms into a rapid uptake of the flexible mechanisms. Denmark, Luxembourg and Spain support this view.

The Sun sets over the Italian province of Tuscany. Most climate scientists agree that human emissions of greenhouse gases are blanketing the Earth, trapping more of the Sun's heat closer to the planet than at any time for thousands of years. (Photo courtesy FreeFoto)

But Spain, Greece and Portugal oppose the arrangement. They say the finance is not destined solely for environment projects and so contributions should not be calculated according to an environmental indicator.

Council sources suggest that the real reason for opposing the plan is that their contributions to the total would be higher than under alternative funding models, such as those generally used by the UN's Global Environment Facility (GEF).

For Spain, for example, it would amount to around US$36 million under the EU plan, compared with just US$6 million under the GEF model.

Trouble over Kyoto Protocol emissions targets is gathering in Spain. Faced with the imminent cost of financing Spain's burgeoning greenhouse gas emissions in the future EU emissions market, industry bosses have for the first time questioned the consensus acceptance of the country's commitment to limit emissions under the Kyoto Protocol and urged a renegotiation.

In an address to chemicals industry federation Feique last week, association president Francisco Belil argued that the protocol treats Spain unfairly in terms of permitted emissions per inhabitant.

Francisco Belil is president of the Spanish chemicals industry federation Feique and vice chairman and CEO of Bayer Hispania, S.A. (Photo courtesy Bayer Hispania)

Separately, Feique Vice President Juan Jose Nava said that Spain's Kyoto commitments were "incompatible with the economic convergence of our country" with the rest of the EU.

As chairman of the Spanish employers' federation environment committee, Nava's views reflect the opinions of the employers' federation as a whole, a spokesman for him told reporters.

Under an EU "burden sharing" deal, Spain is allowed a 15 percent increase in its emissions between 1990 and the protocol's first commitment period 2008-2012, whereas the European Union as a whole is committed to an eight percent cut.

For Spain, even limiting emissions to a 15 percent rise is looking very difficult. Spain's emissions reached 32 percent over 1990 levels by 2001.

Even so, industry calls for renegotiation seem unlikely to be taken up by the Spanish government for fear of creating a political firestorm. Once raised at theEU level, the issue would have the potential to lead to a complete meltdown of all countries' commitments under the protocol.

Two other issues were still outstanding in the draft resolution presented to ministers on Monday. These were resolved in principle - text urging action to promote "rapid ratification" of the Kyoto Protocol by Russia was softened to avoid sending out "unfortunate and counter-productive political messages," while a call for a specific framework for combating climate change after 2012 was also toned down.

After the United States' withdrawal from the protocol when George W. Bush took office, the Russian Federation has "an important role," said Environment Minister Matteoli. Russia's greenhouse gas emissions are equivalent to 17.4 percent of the total needed to make the protocol legally binding.

During an October 6 press conference October 6 to present results of the informal consultation in preparation for COP9, Matteoli said that Italy, in the name of the EU and as chairman, is preparing the COP9 "so as to facilitate a positive decision from Russia." After saying it would present ratification of the protocol to its parliament, the Duma, before the end of this year, Russia has backed away from any commitment to ratification. Russian president Vladimir Putin has not yet committed to it.

The European Union, which has already ratified the agreement, is eager to secure the Russian ratification. Last week, the environment ministers of Germany, France and the UK urged Russia to ratify the protocol, which they said was "the only international framework at our disposal" to combat climate change.

In a statement, Juergen Trittin of Germany, Roselyne Bachelot of France, and Margaret Beckett of the UK said that evidence of human induced global warming is now "convincing" and that there is no "credible alternative" to the Kyoto Protocol.

Matteoli said that recent studies forecasting climate changes to 2030 show that to limit global warming greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by at least 50 percent compared to 1990, much higher than the Kyoto Protocol target of a 5.2 percent reduction. Therefore, it is necessary that more countries participate in the safeguarding the environment, he said, urging Russia to ratify.

A whole day of COP9 will be devoted to considering hydrogen as "an energy source for the future," Matteoli said.

{Published in cooperation with ENDS Environment Daily, Europe's choice for environmental news. Environmental Data Services Ltd, London. Email: envdaily@ends.co.uk}