Sumario: EU Presidency Statement - United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development/Intergovernmental Preparatory Meeting: Climate Change (28 February 2007: New York)
Statement by Mr. Stephan Contius, Federal Republic of Germany, on behalf of the European Union, United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development/Intergovernmental Preparatory Meeting: Climate Change, New York
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and the EFTA countries Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, align themselves with this declaration.
The EU underlines that the UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol are the main instruments to address climate change. The work under the CSD on climate change should complement and provide momentum to efforts to address climate change at the national, regional and international level.
Agreements at CSD15 can help to further the actions that are necessary to enable all countries to move to a lower carbon economy. Relevant areas include those focused on establishing national, regional and international policy, regulatory and financing approaches for supporting and accelerating development, deployment and diffusion of low carbon energy technologies all of which should contribute towards achieving more sustainable patterns of production and consumption.
Promoting international cooperation on climate change, including mitigation
Urgent action is required to meet the shared and multiple objectives of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving the global environment, enhancing energy security, improving access to energy and cutting air pollution in conjunction with vigorous efforts to reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development. As major actors, it is in the global interest for developed countries to work together, and in partnership with major emerging economies, to take urgent action to find ways to achieve
substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions necessary to avoid dangerous climate change.
In order for development to be of long-term benefit, climate change should be fully integrated within national and international development policy and planning, including the need for mitigation and adaptation measures. This will help promote much needed coherent national, regional and international policies and processes to contribute to more sustainable production and consumption globally. Urgent action is thus required to decouple economic growth and rising energy demand from greenhouse gas
emission rates, including through further technology cooperation and development
A broader global strategy is necessary to reduce carbon emissions longer-term. This should involve both developed and developing countries, the business sector and civil society in a concerted effort for reforming investment patterns within the energy sector to support low carbon technology, and in particular the development of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies, as well as research and innovation for accelerating the development of new low carbon and climate-friendly
technologies. The EU underlines the need to develop long term predictable policy frameworks at the national level to enable a shift towards a low carbon emission society. In particular, developing countries should be assisted in their efforts to leap-frog to / achieve low carbon development paths, which are environmentally friendly and socially acceptable, including by expanding and facilitating investments in clean and climate friendly technologies including through cooperative efforts.
The EU notes the recent results from the IPCC Fourth Assessment report that provides more certainty on the link between greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. The EU underlines the urgency and seriousness of climate change and stresses the need for the implementation of the commitments of all parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the need for an urgent political solution aiming at defining a post 2012 international climate change regime at the latest by
2009 in order to avoid any gap after 2012. The next meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol in Bali should therefore aim for a decision for beginning a negotiating process for a global and comprehensive post-2012 agreement by 2009.
Consumption and production patterns have a major impact on the production & use of energy and as such, on the emissions of greenhouse gases and other environmental pollutants. The EU underlines the leadership role that industrialised countries should play to demonstrate that it is possible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well as reduce negative environmental impacts while achieving positive economic and social development. The EU underscores the importance of supporting the Marrakech
process in order to initiate and encourage dialogue between business leaders and other key stakeholders including workers' organizations, non-governmental organizations and political leaders on policies needed for sustainable consumption and production.
The EU underlines its willingness to commit to a reduction of 30% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 compared to 1990 as its contribution to a global and comprehensive agreement for the period beyond 2012, provided that other developed countries commit themselves to comparable emission reductions and economically more advanced developing countries adequately contribute according to their responsibilities and respective capabilities. The EU decided that until a global and comprehensive
post-2012 agreement is concluded it makes a firm independent commitment to achieve at least a 20% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 compared to 1990.
International commitment towards establishing such an enabling environment will provide all countries with positive incentives for moving towards a lower carbon path of development and changing investment choices, in particular for long-lived infrastructure and capital stock, by using low and zero greenhouse gas emitting technologies. Urgent actions to establish the conditions for accelerated low carbon growth can underpin and reinforce progress on a long-term framework agreement under the
UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol. Furthermore, there is a need for coordination and dialogue between the Montreal Protocol and Kyoto Protocol on ozone depleting substances that are also greenhouse gases.
Strengthening international support on adaptation measures
The EU notes that climate change is not only an environmental problem, but also a development challenge that must be addressed in order to ensure the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. The EU underlines the need for integrating climate change risks within poverty reduction strategies and/or national strategies for sustainable development noting that this is the main avenue for addressing both adaptation to the adverse effects of climate change as well as the mitigation of climate
change. Adaptation strategies should thus seek to manage existing climate change risks and support countries efforts to build resilience to longer-term climate change impacts.
The EU is committed to work with its partners, in particular small island developing states, least developed countries and African countries, to mainstream climate change mitigation and adaptation in development cooperation activities, including through the implementation of the OECD Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and by increasing the understanding of opportunities and challenges associated with such integration.
The EU further welcomes the efforts by the OECD Task Force on Adaptation and Development, the World Bank, Regional Development Banks and bilateral development agencies to mainstream climate risks within their development portfolios and work with these to ensure climate risks are mainstreamed within national development plans.
The EU notes the decision on the establishment of the adaptation fund of the twelfth session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC. The Kyoto Protocol Adaptation Fund that is funded with a "share of proceeds" on credits generated by the Clean Development Mechanism will support concrete adaptation projects. Further work on innovative funding for adaptation should be taken forward to respond to the funding need identified by the World Bank in its Investment Framework for Clean Energy and
Development.
Initiatives focused on improving the relevance and usability of information on impacts of climate variability and climate change, for appropriate use by development practitioners should be encouraged. This could include improving climate monitoring, developing in-country and regional capacity for analysing and interpreting climate observational data, improving the quality of information on sector and location-specific climate change impacts, as well as the communication of uncertainties
associated with climate change projections. This also includes improving information on the costs, distributional, and trans-boundary aspects of adaptation activities; In this regard, the EU welcomes the agreement on the Nairobi work programme on adaptation and look forward to the outcomes of this work as a means for enhancing understanding of vulnerabilities to climate impacts and strategies for adapting to these.
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