Chances of EU adopting 30 per cent emission target ebb away
Belgium proposes 25 per cent emission cuts as divisions block proposal for more demanding 2020 target
James Murray | BusinessGreen | 18 Jan 2010
With just a fortnight to go until signatories to the Copenhagen Accord are required to submit new emission targets, it appears ever more unlikely that the EU will increase its target for 2020 and pledge to cut emissions by 30 per cent.
A number of EU states, including the UK, France, Germany, Belgium and Spain, had been pushing for the bloc to act unilaterally and increase its emission reduction target for 2020 from 20 to 30 per cent below 1990 levels.
Officials had hoped that moving to the more ambitious target would help to restore momentum to international negotiations following the Copenhagen summit and increase pressure on other nations to adopt more ambitious targets.
However, environment ministers meeting in Seville over the weekend admitted that the EU remains divided on the proposal and it is now highly unlikely that the bloc will announce a more ambitious target ahead of the 31 January deadline for countries to submit emission targets and action plans under the Copenhagen Accord.
Poland and other eastern European states are known to be fiercely opposed to increasing the target, while Italian environment minister Stefania Prestigiacomo argued that it was "frankly surreal" to be discussing moving to the 30 per cent target when the Copenhagen summit had failed to secure similar commitments from other large polluters.
However, while a surprise move to increase the target appears to have been blocked, a number of ministers insisted the EU would keep open its offer to increase its 2020 target as soon as other industrialised nations commit to deeper emission reductions.
"We definitely think we should maintain the 30 per cent. It has always been a conditional offer, but it is a very important signal that it is maintained," British energy and climate change secretary Ed Miliband told reporters.
His comments were echoed by his French counterpart Jean-Louis Borloo, who said the conditional offer should be kept. "It is not a question of going to 30 per cent blindly," he said. "Nobody would accept that. We will go to 30 per cent depending on the commitments that are published [by other developed nations]."
However, other officials, including German minister Norbert Röttgen, were adamant that the existing 20 per cent target was "not enough" and that tougher targets were required to bolster the EU's position as a leading clean tech hub.
In a potentially significant move, Belgium, which will take up the revolving EU presidency from Spain later this year, proposed that a compromise target of a 25 per cent cut in emissions by 2020 be adopted.
Environmental groups and green businesses have long maintained that the EU should move to a more ambitious target. They have warned that the existing 20 per cent goal is insufficient when set against recommendation from climate scientists, while also arguing that cuts in emissions delivered over the past decade mean that the bloc is already over halfway to achieving the current target.
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