CLIMATE CHANGE:SWEDEN'S PRESIDENCY of the EU will table compromise proposals this morning to try to bridge sharp divisions between political leaders over the financing of an ambitious plan to cut between 20 and 30 per cent of carbon emissions by 2020.
EU leaders, ahead of the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen in six weeks, expressed deep divisions at their own summit yesterday over the bloc’s tactical approach to negotiation.
In addition, they remain far apart over internal arrangements necessary to split the bill for the project between EU states.
The EU estimates that the global effort to curtail emissions will require annual contributions of between €20 billion and €50 billion from the entire developed world.
Wealthier EU countries say an all-embracing pact would weaken the union’s negotiating position in Copenhagen vis-a-vis major global powers outside Europe.
“The EU has to make clear its ideas, but it is crucial that the United States and China also make clear what they are willing to contribute,” German chancellor Angela Merkel said at the summit.
However, Poland and other former eastern bloc states want an immediate deal to ensure certainty over their financial exposure to the project.
“We shouldn’t agree on something, the effects of which we will not be able to deal with,” said Polish prime minister Donald Tusk. “I think today the voice of those countries who are economically weaker will be heard.”
Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin said Ireland supported Sweden’s existing proposal to go to Copenhagen with a figure for the overall EU contribution, without specifying the exposure of individual countries.
Asked last night what financial contributions Ireland might have to make, he said: “We don’t have those figures.” However, he added that the Government agreed in principle that the expenditure should be in addition to the existing budget on overseas development aid.
The Minister declined to comment on the likely proposals from Sweden, but said that talks yesterday yielded no compromise, adding that the question of whether contributions from individual countries would be determined according to their emissions or their gross national product was still unresolved.
