Environment Ministers discuss the way to Copenhagen
Negotiation of the future Copenhagen climate change agreement as well as financing climate change mitigation and adaptation were the issues being discussed during the second day of the informal meeting of the EU Environment Ministers.
“It is absolutely vital to reach an agreement in Copenhagen to protect our climate and economic welfare,” says EU Environment Council President and Czech Environment Minister Martin Bursík. Today’s discussion confirmed that the EU is still leading the international debate. “The European Environment Ministers have joined us here in Prague to see how we can take this forward. We are determined to continue to lead the debate and ensure the ambitious agreement in Copenhagen which we so desperately need to avert dangerous climate change,” Bursík added.
The EU is still the first and the only region which has adopted ambitious measures to tackle climate change as well as a detailed position on the future Copenhagen agreement. The Czech Presidency has led the EU in bilateral discussions with India, Japan, the United States and in multilateral discussions, most recently at the United Nations talks in Bonn last week. “Despite the present political difficulties in the Czech Republic, the Presidency will continue to lead on this issue, including representing the EU in the UN negotiations in June and in the G8 and MEF meetings over the coming months,” Bursík says.
The negotiations are now entering a critical phase. The first draft of the legal text for the agreement in Copenhagen will be issued in May. The US Administration is starting to come forward with its position. “We expect others to announce their targets soon, as well,” Bursík added. The EU is encouraging the developed and industrialised countries to come forward with ambitious targets to match the EU’s offer of a 30% reduction by 2020.
“It is also clear that without the technical and financial support of developed countries including the EU, the USA, Japan and others, emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil will find it extremely difficult to make a transition to a low-carbon economy,” Minister Bursík says.
The changes needed are substantial and the scale of assistance needed is also significant, running into tens of billions of dollars per year by the end of the next decade. “But, whilst these numbers may seem large, it is worth bearing in mind that they are only a tiny fraction of what we spend on oil,” Martin Bursík notes. The EU has made its position clear: we are willing to provide our fair share of assistance as part of a global agreement in Copenhagen.
“We will continue to work, in cooperation with our Finance Ministers, on putting together the details of what we think can make the Copenhagen agreement a real success and in its last ten weeks the Czech Presidency will do its utmost to prepare a firm base for the forthcoming Swedish Presidency,” Martin Bursík says.
For more information see the Calendar on the website of the Czech Presidency.
Contact:
- Jakub Kašpar, Spokesman of the Ministry of the Environment
- Tel.: +420 267 122 040, GSM: +420 724 175 927, E-mail: [email protected]
Last update: 15.4.2009 16:19
