Conclusions GLOBE Europe Strategy Conf. 30 April

8/14/2019 Conclusions GLOBE Europe Strategy Conf. 30 April

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The Deal The World Needs: Parliamentary Leadership for Copenhagen and Beyond European Parliament, Brussels, April 30th 2009

GLOBE Europe Focal Points Strategy Conference

CONCLUSIONS

Preamble

GLOBE is a worldwide community of parliamentarians interested in co-operating across country and

party lines to further the wider environmental agenda of climate and biodiversity protection and

sustainable development. GLOBE provides an independent forum where parliamentarians who are

committed to developing ambitious policies to enhance environmental protection and sustainabledevelopment can talk and work together, in dialogue with key policy stakeholders.

The National Focal Points of the GLOBE network in Europe met on 30th April 2009 and agreed on the

following priorities for GLOBE Europe.

We are convinced of the importance of enhancing the involvement of national parliamentarians in the

formulation of EU policies, as proposed by the Lisbon Treaty, and this is why, paying regard to the

ground-breaking work of the European Parliament on the issue of climate change of the last few years1,

the GLOBE International consensus paper Combating Climate Change: An International Cooperation

Framework Beyond 2012 by legislators from the G8 and +5 countries agreed at the GLOBE

International Tokyo Legislators Forum on 29 June 2008, the Recommendations of the GLOBE

International Working Group on Biofuels to the GLOBE International Tokyo forum in June 2008, andthe 2008 Communiqué of the Road to Copenhagen Conference of November 2008, we agree to

formulate common policy recommendations to our parliamentary colleagues and Ministers and to take a

number of joint actions ourselves.

National parliaments should call on the EU and the Member States to maintain a leading role in

international climate policy by putting forward concrete proposals for the EU's contribution for funding

climate protection efforts in developing countries at the European Council next June, and speak with

one voice in order to maintain its credibility as a climate protection leader; to ensure that climate justice

is recognized as a guiding principle for the upcoming negotiations and any planning for financing future

climate policy; and to actively pursue a Copenhagen agreement which takes into account the most

recent scientific reports on climate change, commits to stabilisation levels and temperature targets that provide strong probability of avoiding dangerous climate change, and allows for regular reviews to

ensure that targets are in line with the latest science.

GLOBE Europe regrets that, after more than a year of discussion and contrary to their explicit

commitment in Poznań, the EU Member States failed to reach an agreement on the EU's contribution

for funding climate protection efforts in developing countries in the Spring Council last in March. This

1. Particularly: the EP report on the Commission Communication Building a Global Climate Change Alliance between the

European Union and poor developing countries most vulnerable to climate change adopted on 21 October 2008; the EP

report 2050: The future begins today - Recommendations for the EU's future integrated policy on climate change of the

Temporary Committee on Climate Change, adopted on 4 February 2009; and the Resolution of the European Parliament on

the Commission Communication Towards a comprehensive climate change agreement in Copenhagen adopted on 11March 2009.

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failure represents a severe blow to Europe's leadership ahead of the COP-15 and jeopardises the chance

of a satisfactory outcome in Copenhagen.

On the other hand, in the current financial and economic crisis, the EU's objective of fighting climate

change can be combined with major new economic opportunities to develop new clean technologies, to

create jobs and to enhance energy security. An agreement in Copenhagen could provide the necessary

stimulus for such a 'New Deal' boosting economic growth, promoting green technologies and creatingnew jobs in the EU and in developing countries.

1. Negotiation of a post-Kyoto UN climate agreement

1.1 EU Mandate: The European Council must aim for an international agreement with industrialised

countries that seeks to achieve collective emissions reductions at a level which ensures reaching the 2

degree objective of the European Union.

1.2. Funding for mitigation and adaptation in developing countries & capacity building

- GLOBE Europe calls on the European Council to make tangible commitments on financing, when

adopting a negotiating mandate for the Copenhagen conference. We welcome the concrete proposals put

forward by the European Parliament in this regard.

- GLOBE Europe believes that climate justice must be a guiding principle for the upcoming

negotiations in Copenhagen and for any planning for financing future climate policy; we therefore

welcome the European Parliament’s proposal to establish an EU Global Climate Change Alliance

whose purpose would be to establish a framework through which the EU will provide substantial

resources to address climate change in developing countries and will work jointly with them to integrate

climate change into poverty reduction strategies.

- A majority of such funding must be new and additional to Official Development Assistance (ODA).

- Around 25% of the auctioning revenues generated by the EU ETS should be dedicated to finance

mitigation and adaptation to global warming in the developing countries which decide to ratify the

international agreement. Part of this funding should be dedicated to capacity building in recipient

countries, to maximise the effectiveness of the support provided.

- A large part of the collective contribution towards the mitigation efforts and adaptation needs of

developing countries must be dedicated to projects striving to halt deforestation and forest degradation,

and to reforestation and afforestation projects.

- The industrialised countries must develop a comprehensive action plan on the future financing of

climate policy, covering all relevant areas and sources of financing including the CDM; the European

Council should mandate the Commission to urgently develop such an EU action plan in view of the

Copenhagen negotiations.

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2. Beyond the EU Climate and Renewable Energy (CARE) Package: energy efficiency, the

Supergrid, e-mobility

The EU has committed itself to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to 30% below 1990 levels by 2020

provided that, as part of a global and comprehensive post-2012 agreement, other developed countries

commit to comparable reductions and advanced developing countries also contribute adequately to theglobal effort according to their respective capabilities. Therefore it is indispensable that policies capable

of delivering this objective are set in place.

2.1. Although the CARE Package represents the first and important step on the EU's pathway to a low

carbon and sustainable economy, it is essential that the weaker aspects of the agreement are

strengthened in its implementation and complemented by bold parallel efforts.

2.2. In the current financial and economic crisis, the EU's objective of fighting climate change can be

combined with major new economic opportunities to develop new clean technologies, to create jobs and

to enhance energy security. GLOBE Europe is convinced that three areas in particular boast the

potential to achieve indispensable additional emission reductions in Europe: improving energyefficiency, building a super-grid to boost the development of the renewables sector and the increase of

the clean energy share in the European markets, whose targets must absolutely be achieved, and

developing sustainable electro-mobility.

2.3. Over the coming months GLOBE Europe will examine, on the basis of this discussion paper, how

best to achieve each of these objectives and how national legislatures can best contribute to this policy

debate at the European level. We will seek to raise awareness among and involve our parliamentary

colleagues in this work, as well as our colleagues in government, and promote relevant legislation.

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Documents

Conclusions GLOBE Europe Strategy Conf. 30 April