Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-11-21-Speech-4-154"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20021121.6.4-154"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
". – Mr President, thank you for inviting the Commission to report to this House on the New Delhi Conference on Climate Change held in October 2002. I wish to begin by saying that the European Union adopted a strong and unified position during the talks and we would like to thank the Danish Presidency for its excellent work. The Commission is also pleased to acknowledge the sound political support it received from the NGOs present at the meeting. However, the Commission and my colleague Mrs Wallström particularly want to express our appreciation of the European Parliament's ongoing support for the EU's position in international climate negotiations and your continuing interest in this issue. That interest was reflected by your dedicated parliamentary delegation led by Mrs García-Orcoyen Tormo in New Delhi. We hope to continue our effective cooperation in the future.
Following this conference, what prospects can we see for the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol? This is obviously a crucial question. As you know this requires ratification by 55 parties representing at least 55% of the CO2 emissions of the industrialised countries in 1990. The first threshold has been largely met – 97 countries as of 13 November – as ratification continues steadily. In this context, we gladly welcome the confirmation by Canada that they will soon ratify. However, we have only reached a figure of 37.4% for the second threshold. Given that the EU, Japan and almost all the candidate countries have now ratified, this means that ratification by Russia is necessary to bring the Protocol into effect. It seems that Russia is still inclined to ratify, especially after the results of the recently published study on the effects of climate change in that country. However, a final decision has yet to be made and no specific timetable has been set out. It is the Commission's intention to continue to encourage Russia to live up to its responsibility as a key player on climate change and to ratify the Kyoto Protocol as soon as possible.
Internally, the Commission will proceed within the framework of the European Climate Change Programme to enable the European Union to meet its emissions reductions targets as agreed. Internationally, on the other hand, the Commission will continue its efforts to encourage our partners to ratify the Kyoto Protocol so that it can enter into force. At the same time we will also continue to build on the good bilateral relationships we have established with some developing countries and with the majority of the developed countries in order to reach a better understanding on what needs to be done in the future.
Everybody knows that the Kyoto Protocol is only the first step in the fight against climate change and we have to start to discuss how to proceed beyond it.
I would like to conclude by stressing once again how deeply grateful the Commission is for the Parliament's support and for its very dedicated presence in Delhi itself.
Around 170 countries, representing over three-quarters of the world's population, met in New Delhi for their eighth regular meeting as parties to the United Nation's Framework Convention on Climate Change. The meeting made good progress on a number of technical issues, such as monitoring and reporting, and paved the way for the use of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The CDM is an important tool for reaching emission targets in developed countries and, at the same time, for reducing emissions in the developing world and contributing to its sustainable growth.
During the final ministerial part of the meeting, ministers and senior officials discussed the actions taken so far to combat climate change, the links between climate change and sustainable development and the disturbing findings of the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which show that most of the acceleration in global warming is man-made. They also debated the need for further action to continue the fight against climate change. The meeting ended with the adoption of the Delhi Declaration.
Allow me to briefly outline the Commission's political assessment of the New Delhi Conference. The Delhi Ministerial Declaration represents the political outcome of the conference. Although it includes the call for all countries to ratify the Kyoto Protocol and underlines the need for greater efforts to combat climate change in the coming decades, we would have liked it to be stronger in other areas.
Let me briefly address some shortcomings. First, the Delhi Declaration fails to underline the need for a closer link between science and policy action. The findings of the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change confirm that more emission cuts are needed if the ultimate objective of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is to be attained.
This must be used as an important input for furthering the work of the climate change convention and the Kyoto Protocol. A science-based approach will give us more confidence in our policy scenarios for the future being on the right track.
Secondly, our mandate as agreed by the Council on 17 October was to seek a forward-looking discussion on more inclusive and longer-term global cooperation based on broader and balanced action and participation consistent with the ultimate objective of the Convention.
Such discussions should have started at the Conference of the Parties at its first session after the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol. Regrettably, the EU did not succeed in persuading other parties to recognise the need for starting such a process. However, through a number of bilateral contacts with other parties and groups of parties the EU did seize every opportunity to explain our way of thinking. The issue is now on the table and these discussions have provided a solid foundation on which we can build.
A third but more general point is that the debate in Delhi tended to focus on sustainable development rather than on climate change. While there is a clear understanding in the EU that climate change is strongly linked to sustainable development, the UN framework convention on climate change is about just that. It is the framework for climate change which is well defined and in place. We should not allow the sustainable development discussion to distract us from the climate change process."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples