In accordance with the Copenhagen Accord, the European Union has submitted its emission reduction targets (required by 31st January); in a letter to the UNFCCC the EU has reaffirmed a commitment to 30% emission cuts, on the condition that other major emitters sign up to equally strong commitments. The commitment also reconfirms the EU’s base target of 20% emission reductions on 1990 levels.
The EU has expressed its support for a legally binding agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol, post 2012. In a statement yesterday, the UK’s Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Ed Miliband, called on “other major emitters [to] agree to take on their fair share of a global reduction effort”.
Unfinished business
“Today’s decision to keep the offer to move to 30% demonstrates the EU’s commitment to maintaining a strong signal to the world on the urgency to act on climate change. The goal of moving to 30% has always been and remains conditional on others showing similar ambition. We must now continue to push for bold cuts in emissions beyond the 31st deadline.
The Copenhagen Accord was an important step forward but we now need to redouble efforts to secure the legally binding treaty, and complete the unfinished business of Copenhagen,” said Miliband.
US commitments
The same day that the EU formally submitted emission reduction targets, the United States has embraced the accord reached at the Copenhagen climate summit by formally giving notice to the United Nations that it would reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In his letter to the UN, the state department climate change envoy, Todd Stern, said that America could cut carbon emissions by 17% from 2005 levels by 2020. However, he said, the commitment was contingent on Congress passing climate change legislation.
President Barack Obama, in his state of the union address on Wednesday, promised to keep pushing on his energy and climate change agenda. The commitment of the President is widely seen as a slight boost to the otherwise slim prospects of getting Congress to act on climate change.