Europe tells poor nations to curb emissions

By Joshua Chaffin in Brussels and Fiona Harvey in London
Published: January 28 2009 22:38

The European Union made its opening gambit in negotiations for a global framework on climate change on Wednesday with proposals that developing nations curb the growth of their greenhouse gas emissions.
Rich countries, including those in the EU as well as the US, are adamant that poor countries must take on such obligations if negotiations this year on a successor to the Kyoto protocol – the main provisions of which expire in 2012 – are to be successful.

The proposal, tabled by the European Commission, said developing countries should curb emissions by 15-30 per cent of their projected growth by 2020.
The proposed target would not require developing countries actually to cut their emissions, but would oblige them to make efforts to increase energy efficiency.
Yvo de Boer, the United Nations official charged with bringing this year’s talks to a successful conclusion in Copenhagen in December, warned that developing countries were ready to fight a hard battle.
“I don’t think developing countries will accept binding targets,” he said. A “very robust financing mechanism” would need to be agreed to ensure the finance flows to the developing world.
The Commission said developed countries should take on the lion’s share of cuts. It estimated that meeting the targets would require €175bn ($231bn, £164bn) in additional investment by 2020 for new technology, energy efficiency projects and other measures, with roughly €100bn of that destined for the developing world. It also predicted that up to €54bn would be required annually by 2030 to help poorer countries cope with even modest warming.
Development groups believe rich countries should contribute far more. Elise Ford, head of Oxfam International’s EU office, said: “Unless developing countries see hard cash on the table, there is a real danger they will simply walk away.”
●Lord Stern, the British economist who advises the Commission, said governments should “green” their economic stimulus. He told the FT that the fiscal injection this year needed to be $2,000bn (€1,515bn, £1,420bn), 4 per cent of global GDP, with at least $400bn spent on green technologies.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009