EU must reiterate commitment to Kyoto, says EP - Europolitics

Posted - By Anne Eckstein | Thursday 27 October 2011 - Europolitics

The European Union has to exercise leadership at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa, and put its full weight behind continuation of the Kyoto Protocol after 2012, states a resolution adopted on 26 October by the European Parliament’s Committee on Environment (ENVI).
“Continuation of the Kyoto Protocol after 2012 will be decisive to the success or failure of the Durban summit. The EU has to exercise leadership to prevent a failure of the climate negotiations,” commented Jo Leinen (S&D, Germany), chair of the ENVI committee and of the delegation (1) the EP will be sending to Durban.
The resolution, adopted by 53 to four with three abstentions, will go before the plenary of 15-17 November, ie two weeks ahead of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (COP 17), to be held in Durban from 28 November to 9 December.
The EU must reiterate “publicly and unequivocally” its commitment to the Kyoto Protocol on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, note MEPs. They stress that the fundamental objective must remain the adoption of a legally binding international agreement in conformity with the principle of common but differentiated responsibility. MEPs note, however, that “radical changes in the geopolitical world over the past decades, with some developing countries now being major economic and political players, need to be taken into account” since this situation leads to a “new balance of power and influence, entailing new roles and new responsibilities”.
The Union must pursue the goal of an emissions reduction of over 20% by 2020, “because this will strengthen ‘green’ employment, growth and security,” add MEPs, who also urge the EU to provide assistance for the development of an agreement on financing and management of a ‘green’ climate fund. The resolution states that new measures are needed to reduce emissions from the aviation and maritime sectors and those related to land use changes. MEPs express their firm support for the legislation they approved in 2008 to bring aviation into the EU’s Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) from 1 January 2012, given international challenges to the measure.

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