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Climate action: Designing the 2015 Global Climate Change Agreement
The European Commission today adopted a consultative paper that
launches a public debate on how best to design a new international agreement to
combat climate change.
The Consultative Communication raises key questions and invites the
views of stakeholders on the new agreement, which is to be completed by the end
of 2015 and to apply from 2020.
Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for Climate Action, said:
“In Copenhagen, world leaders set the goal of keeping global warming
below 2°C in order to prevent the most severe impacts of climate change.
That is good.
But as the world day by day is moving away from this target, it is
clearly not enough.
More action is needed by everybody.
An ambitious international agreement in which all major economies
commit to take action according to their current and future capabilities is
vital if we are to succeed.
This paper is an invitation to help shape the EU’s position and
contribute to getting the strongest possible deal in 2015.”
The Consultative Communication invites input from stakeholders, Member
States and EU institutions on how best to design the 2015 agreement, which will
lay down the international regime for fighting climate change post 2020.
The public consultation runs online until 26 June.
A stakeholder conference will be held on 17 April in Brussels.
Keeping global warming below 2°C
The UN parties launched negotiations on the new climate agreement at
the end of 2011 in Durban.
The public consultation coincides with an expected intensification of
the negotiations this year.
The 2015 agreement will have to bring together the current patchwork of
binding and non-binding arrangements under the UN climate convention and the
Kyoto Protocol into a single comprehensive regime.
Whereas the EU, a few other European countries and Australia have
joined a legally binding second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol, some
60 other countries around the world have made different types of non-binding
commitments to reduce, or limit the growth in, their greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions.
Stepping up pre-2020 ambition is also crucial
At the same time as the international negotiations on the 2015
agreement, parallel negotiations were launched under the Durban Platform to find
ways to deepen global GHG emission reductions before the agreement takes effect
in 2020.
This reflects recognition that there is a significant gap between
countries’ current emissions pledges for 2020 and what is needed to put the
world on track towards keeping global warming below 2°C.
While the Consultative Communication focuses on the 2015 agreement, it
makes clear that global action taken before 2020 will be crucial to setting
policies on the right path for the agreement to succeed.
Next steps
The Commission will analyse responses received, which will feed into the
development of the EU's position on the 2015 agreement.