The European Union (EU) has recently taken the lead on combating climate change. On March 14th, EU leaders agreed to finalize their Climate Action Plan (CAP) by next year. The CAP is a set of policy proposals released in January, which aim to meet the EU’s two goals for emissions reductions:
1. an EU commitment to achieve at least a 20% reduction of greenhouse gases by 2020 compared to 1990 levels and an objective for a 30% reduction by 2020 subject to the conclusion of a comprehensive international climate change agreement, and
2. a mandatory EU target of 20% renewable energy by 2020 including a 10 % biofuels target
At a two-day summit held March 11th and 12th, leaders from the EU Member States agreed that legally binding legislation governing Europe’s climate change policy would be very beneficial. Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, chairman of the summit, stated that this commitment to finalize negotiations by the end of the year was a “huge step forward.” This agreement between Member States is important because it is indicative of the strong level of commitment to treating climate change as a real and serious concern.
But the EU’s decision to create an ambitious, uniform climate change policy is not just important as a symbolic act, it is also important because of what it can accomplish. This is because of the nature of the CAP and its timing. The EU is attempting to put a policy in place before the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change talks in Copenhagen in November 2009. This is the meeting where the post-Kyoto emissions standards will be created. By finalizing the provisions of the CAP by the end of next year, the EU will be in a strong position to set the international standard at this meeting. A strong European CAP would demonstrate to other countries, such as India and China, that a substantial and sincere commitment to combating global climate change is possible, despite criticism from industrial and public utility sectors that such a policy is too costly.
The European Union has a great opportunity to make its CAP an example of progressive climate change policy which can be acknowledged and built upon by other nations at the Copenhagen talks. The agreement that the plan will be finished in time for these talks is encouraging. But the impact of the Europe’s climate policy at Copenhagen is not dependent on its completion date, but on its content. Negotiations on the specific proposals of the CAP will be debated for the next year. This is an ample of amount of time for Member States opposing the CAP in whole or in part to push for compromises lessening the economic burden on industries and thus weakening the impact the plan would have on combating global climate change. The CAP is based on four proposals:
1. an improved emissions trading system (ETS) covering more emissions and allowing firms in one EU country to buy allowances in any other;
2. an emission reduction target for industries not covered by the ETS (e.g. buildings, transport, waste) so that everyone is contributing;
3. legally enforceable targets for increasing the share of renewables in the energy mix – the targets will reflect each country’s individual needs and its potential;
4. new rules on carbon capture and storage and on environmental subsidies.
These proposals, in their general form, are not particularly controversial. But these proposals supply only the EU Commission’s basic strategy for accomplishing its emission reduction goals. The controversy is in the details. For instance, regarding the revisions to the ETS, the Commission has proposed that auctioning of emissions credits will be subject to common EU rules, not the rules of specific nations. Inevitably some nations will support the EU’s allocation of emissions credits, while some will vehemently oppose it. Under the EU rules, the power sector will be subject to auctioning beginning in 2013. Nations in the EU block that would have imposed little or no environmental regulation on its own power sector will obviously oppose the Commission’s plan. The same scenario is true with each of the CAP’s specific proposals-some nations will win and some will lose.
The critical inquiry is whether the nations who will lose economically from the CAP will have enough political clout to weaken its biting impact through compromises and exceptions. To mitigate the effects of climate change the world needs a powerful, comprehensive, international agreement from the Copenhagen talks. The EU’s recent proposed action plan and commitment to its finalization before Copenhagen are encouraging signs that Europe understands and accepts the undeniable truth that the quality of the world’s future will be decided by present climate change policy. With so much at stake, will Europe actually create meaningful climate change policy? A year’s time will tell.
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