Environment

As the weeks to the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference draw closer, leaders seem to be lowering their expectations as well. EU and American leaders have publicly stated the COP15 will likely not produce a legally binding document. Apparently this tactic is aimed at lowering the public’s expectations, so we’ll all be less disappointed when nothing significant comes of the conference. But lowering our expectations as well. Surely pre-announcing that no binding deal will come out of COP15 is the best way to ensure that no binding deal will emerge. While leaders are right to recognize the difficulties ahead, this should make them more determined and more adamant that every effort must be made to reach a successful conclusion of the conference. Observers can be forgiven for feeling that our leaders have already given up.

Photo: Flickr, United Nations Photo

In meetings on Tuesday 6 October, the EU and Brazil found allies in each other for the upcoming Copenhagen Climate Change conference. Although no formal alliance has been announced, the two actors supported each other’s commitments and have agreed to meet again before December’s conference.

Image: www.flickr.com/ Andrew Maceira

The Commission has pledged this sum of money to fund six carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects. These projects will develop technology to trap carbon emission from power plants. The six projects, selected from among eleven applicants, are based in the UK, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, and Italy. The commercialization of this low-carbon technology is another step towards the EU achieving its carbon reduction goals, ahead of the December Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

Image: www.flickr.com/ davipt

The Agriculture and Fisheries Council will meet on the 25-26 of May under the Presidency of Mr Jakub Sebesta, minister for Agriculture of the Czech Republic. The points to be discussed are the simplification of the CAP and the Green Paper on the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy.

Image: European Commission Audiovisual Service

Climate change and energy concerns have been at the top of the agenda in 2008. The French presidency brought together the European Council for a summit on this topic on December 11th and 12th . After a long debate, France succeeded in reaching a compromise between the 27 heads of states on the combat against climate change. Three goals have been reiterated: The reduction of CO2 emissions by 20 percent, the reduction of energy use by 20 percent and the increase in the use of renewable energies by 20 percent by the year 2020. However, facing a severe economic crisis, most governments only agreed through diverging and opaque concessions regarding the technical details. One concern was to avoid further charges for the car industry. However if Europe wants to play its role as leader on climate change during the upcoming post-Kyoto conference in Copenhagen in 2009, it has to define its climate goals as narrowly as possible – especially in times of an economic downturn.

Photo: www.flickr.com/ Davipt

From 3-6 June it is Green Week - again. During this yearly event the European Commission seeks to cast light on environmental problems. This year the Commission has looked beyond climate change and has chosen to focus on the challenges related to production, consumption and waste disposal. According to the Commission the point is that many people are unaware of the speed at which we are using up our natural resources, and that we are producing waste far faster than it can be turned back into a useful resource. During the Green Week NGO’s and business representatives will be involved in debates and conferences on how to make the world a greener place. You can find the full program here.

It is not only French President Nikolas Sarkozy who finds himself under popular pressure due to the high oil-prices. From Portugal to Scandinavia interest groups and consumers are calling for less taxes on oil. Tax deductions, subventions and alike are begin considered by Europe’s politicians to alleviate the upset voters. Measures which are totally contradictory to the low-carbon energy goal that most European governments have set for their country. We now seem to have the answer to how the Europeans would react when the going got tough and the price of combating climate change was to be paid. The result does not come as a big surprise. In the first big test the Europeans opted for security of supply at affordable prices rather than accepting that high oil prices is the push that is needed to accelerate the shift to a low carbon economy.

That would the annual cost of a European Parliament plan aiming at the early and full inclusion of the aviation sector in the European Emission Trading Scheme according to airline representatives. MEPs have opted in a key vote to include aviation in the European CO2 emissions scheme as of 2011, with 100% of the permits being auctioned by 2013. Member States had originally agreed on the auctioning of 10% of the permits in 2012 but the Parliament has now given a clear signal that it wanted to “get tough on the aviation sector” which is responsible for a significant chunk of EU CO2 emissions.

The Slovenian Presidency has postponed an important vote on pesticides until June following a meeting of EU Agriculture ministers. At the meeting two sides clashed over the possible ban of a number of pesticides, such as endocrine disruptors, that allegedly have serious consequences for the environment and for human health. The Commission, along with the Parliament wishes to see the substances banned but pesticide producers and farmers argue that science do not support such claims. They are backed by the UK and Ireland that fear impact of the plan on food production in a time of financial crisis. On the other hand stands a number of other EU countries among them France, who for once finds itself in the unusual position of providing support for a Commission proposal on agriculture.

This is the reaction of Sigmar Gabriel, the German Environment Minister after President Bush announced his plan to tackle climate change. This speech, coming from the man who withdrew from the Kyoto protocol after being elected in 2000, could be seen as a breakthrough. For the first time President Bush has clearly recognized the necessity for legislation at the federal level to deal with green house gas emissions and the value of the cap and trade system. His plan aims at halting CO2 emissions by 2025, but not cutting them. European leaders including Environment Commissioner Stravos Dimas argue that this is too little too late; the US already emits twice as much CO2 per inhabitant as the EU… Fortunately, the three senators still in the race for the US presidency all have more ambitious environmental objectives. One can only hope that 2008 will be the beginning of a new era in US environmental policy.

The EU’s own environmental experts advise the EU to suspend its target of a 10% share of biofuels in transport until a comprehensive study has assessed the environmental risks. The Copenhagen-based European Environment Agency says that biofuels made out of food and feed crops are not optimal with regards to fossil energy saving and to greenhouse gas reduction. The EEA argues that biofuels are much more efficient for producing power and heating. At the same time the agency demands a strategy for energy efficiency improvements to acompany the increased use of biofuels. Also, the report points towards the accelerated destruction of rain forests in developing countries, which is the consequence of the EU’s biofuels policy. It is good news that the EU’s own agency is now finally speaking up on the unintended consequences that the EU’s policy on biofuels is producing. A policy on biofuels is required but it needs an appropriate regulatory framework.

The leaders of the EU decided during the March 13th and 14th summit that a solution needed to be found to protect the competitiveness of High CO2 emitting industries if the international community could not find an agreement on the system to be put in place when the Kyoto protocol becomes obsolete. Industries argue that if they are forced by EU legislation to buy emission certificates while their competitors have no obligation in that respect, their activity may no longer be viable. One of the solutions contemplated by EU leaders is simply giving out the certificates for free to the most polluting industries instead of putting them up for auction. Steel and cement factories could get an exemption from paying for their certificates. It is hard to imagine how such a system would be put in place without launching a battle between industries to get an exemption. Ironically industries will be tempted to demonstrate that they have high emissions, one is left wondering whether these exemptions are the best incentives to create a low carbon economy in Europe…

That’s the new low VAT rate that could be applied to green products if the conclusions of last week’s European summit are to be translated into legislation. This proposal emanates from the British and French governments and dates back to the summer of 2007. It was first met with little enthusiasm by other EU leaders but Gordon Brown managed to convince his colleagues to include the idea in the summit conclusions. The products benefiting from this lower VAT rate could include low energy light bulbs, insulation materials and low CO2 emission cars. The problem will be to see whether this proposal will fit within the Commission’s plans to harmonize the EU VAT system. This issue always proves to be very difficult as fiscal autonomy is a very touchy subject for Member States.

Only ten years ago trade in greenhouse gasses was an abstract thought in the mind of the policy-makers of the world. Today, greenhouse gas trading has become a commodity market in its own right. The value of the global carbon market increased by staggering 80 % in 2007 and CO2 credits worth the value of 40.4 billion euro changed hands. With the Commission set to tighten the EU Emissions Trading Scheme from 2012 by including more sectors in the scheme, CO2 trade seems set to boom over the next years. In addition, more than 13 climate change bills are being discussed at the moment in the US Congress. The introduction of some sort of market based mechanism in the US within the next couple of years seems inevitable. In short there is a growing enthusiasm for the carbon trading system among politicians, companies and investors. That is good news when contemplating the latest warnings from climate change scientists.

The Commission seems to be fond of launching large energy policy packages in January. Last January the ‘Energy for a Changing World’ package was published, pointing out the direction of EU energy policy. This year, 23 January will see the Commission publish its much debated draft directive on how to raise EU renewable energy consumption to 20% in 2020. Not surprisingly, the debate evolves around how the overall target should be divided between the member states. As if that was not enough the Commission is internally divided over a related topic: its draft directive for a post-Kyoto emissions trading scheme, due to be published the same day. In order to reduce EU greenhouse gas emissions by 20% in 2020 the most “green” members of the Commission wish to include new sectors in the trading scheme, such as the aluminium sector. More industry friendly Commissioners are afraid that this move would be the deathblow to a number of European energy intensive industries. Indeed, January 23 will be energy day.

If you have not heard enough about climate change here is your chance. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the dreadfully long and clumsy name of the international juridical framework within which climate change is addressed. The Kyoto-protocol is the most visible product of this framework. On the homepage of the UNFCCC you can find statements, news, background info and webcast from the 14 long days on Bali. Besides that you can find background information, several publications and information on the Kyoto-protocol.

Official homepage of The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Now, let’s get down to business. This week will see 10,000 delegates from over 180 countries gathering on the beautiful Indonesian island of Bali to hammer out an agreement for the upcoming negotiations on what should replace the Kyoto-protocol after it expires in 2012. The event marks the launch of two years of intense negotiations. The EU hopes that an agreement will be completed in 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark. For this to happen, numerous issues must find a common understanding. The most contentious issue is whether the developing countries, notably China and India, should commit to emission reductions in the post-Kyoto era. For many Europeans the question may be answered with a simple “of course” but in other parts of the world the situation is quite different. Many developing countries follow the logic “you break, you buy” referring to the many years of uncontrolled CO2 emissions by the Western world. Two years of difficult negotiations can be seen ahead.

Car-pooling yes, but have you ever heard about plain-pooling? Well, now you have. The quote by a Dutch government Spokesman, refers to the plan outlined by the three prime ministers of the Benelux countries - Belgium’s Guy Verhofstadt, the Netherlands’ Jan Peter Balkenende and Luxembourg’s Jean Claude Juncker – to fly together to Lisbon in December to sign the Reform Treaty, so that the Portuguese can name the new treaty the Lisbon Treaty. Much noise has been made in the media during the last weeks over the “eco footprint” of the European leaders who, immediately after signing the treaty, head to Belgium for the actual summit. And indeed, it is a ridiculous waste of time, money and CO2. However, good examples are good but often useless. Even if the EU leaders stayed in Brussels, the Europeans would still buy products imported from Australia, still take the car to the bakery and still fly over Heathrow airport when flying from Holland to Greece because it is slightly cheaper. It is a question of lifestyle: the lifestyle of international politics is comparable to the Portuguese’s need for self-promotion. Solid policies that dramatically change the conditions on the basis of which all of us make our daily lifestyle choices will combat climate change. Not the reliance on citizens’ consciousness.

What do you think of emission-trading? Should developing countries sign up for emission-reductions? What about the use of reforestation as a tool for writing off CO2 emissions? However you might think global warming should be addressed, here is your chance to give your views and to help writing a communication that will be presented to the negotiators of the Bali conference 3-14 December this year. The initiative, named “Road to Copenhagen 2009”, where the final meeting of the successor of Kyoto will take place, has been initiated by the hyperactive Commission vice-president and Commissioner for communication, Mrs. Margot Wallström, together with UN special envoy and former Norwegian PM Gro Harlem Brundtland and Mary Robinson, Vive-President of the Club de Madrid and former Irish president. The three iron ladies hope that the initiative will lead more citizens, firms and organisations to get involved in the debate on climate change.

Link to The Road to Copenhagen