Officials of EU Environment and Finance Ministries discuss fight against climate change and associated funding for the second time
Representatives of EU Environment and Finance Ministers and representatives of the European Commission gathered in Prague on 22 May already for the second time at their informal meeting and discussed the financial aspects of future international climate-related measures. This event was a follow-up to the first successful meeting held in February this year.
At the Friday meeting, led by the First Deputy Environment Minister, Jan Dusík, and the representative of the Czech Finance Ministry in the EU Economic Policy Committee (EPC), Jiří Palán, on behalf of the Czech Presidency, the delegates of Environment and Finance Ministries focused on items marked by the Spring European Council as priorities in the area of funding of the fight against climate change. At its last meeting, the European Council addressed the probable amount of funds needed to combat climate change, the ways to obtain these funds, their administration and efficient redistribution among developing countries.
The objective of the meeting was also to harmonise opinions and to reach a common European position for further negotiations on a new global climate agreement expected to be reached at the December UNFCCC Summit in Copenhagen. The delegates drafted a cooperation plan for the upcoming Swedish Presidency.
The conclusions of the meeting will be reflected in the basic documents for the meeting of the EU Environment Council in Brussels on 25 June, for the ECOFIN Council Meeting in Luxembourg on 9 June, and for the June meeting of the European Council. "We have had the opportunity to meet for the second time with our colleagues from the EU Member States' Finance and Environment Ministries and to coordinate our positions before the June European Council meeting, which should reaffirm the readiness of the European Union to be a global leader on the journey towards the conclusion of the Copenhagen agreement", said Jan Dusík, First Deputy Environment Minister of the Czech Republic.
The European Union has already committed itself to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020 below their 1990 levels (conditionally by 30% provided that other large greenhouse gas producers make similar commitments). Without the involvement of the global players, e.g. the USA, China, Russia and India, the European Union will find it very difficult to achieve its ambitious goals. The Czech Presidency is conducting an active diplomatic policy in order to persuade these economies to join the new climate agreement that is expected to be negotiated in Copenhagen in December 2009. "In order for the agreement to work, we must introduce functional funding mechanisms that will allow developed countries to help developing countries mitigate the expected impacts of climate change", said Jiří Palán, representative of the Czech Finance Ministry in the EU Economic Policy Committee.
Contacts:
- Jakub Kašpar, Spokesman of the Ministry of the Environment
Tel.: +420 267 122 040, GSM: +420 724 175 927, E-mail: jakub.kaspar@mzp.cz
- Radka Kohutová, Spokeswoman of the Ministry of Finance
Tel. : +420 257 042 103, GSM: +420 724 845 394, E-mail: radka.kohutova@mfcr.cz
Last update: 22.5.2009 16:45
