Baltic and European news
Dimas spells out Europe's checklist for Bali
2398, 01/10/07
EU environment commissioner Stavros Dimas criticised America's approach to international climate policies at a meeting in Brussels on Monday and insisted that a post-2012 global framework must include binding targets for developed countries.
Speaking to a joint meeting of EU and national parliamentarians on climate change, Mr Dimas said that the US preference for non-binding targets will "offer no real solution" and could in fact prevent progress.
The commissioner outlined eight key "building blocks" that the EU believes are necessary for a workable and effective post-Kyoto agreement (EED 21/09/07 http://www.endseuropedaily.com/23921).
Mr Dimas also revealed that the commission now has the initial findings of an impact assessment of the climate and energy commitments made by EU leaders in March (EED 09/03/07 http://www.endseuropedaily.com/22792).
The study confirms that the investment required will amount to only "a fraction of the benefits that will be delivered", he said, but did not confirm any specific figures.
The head of Portugal's national assembly, Jamie Gama, emphasised the need to allow for "sustainable economic development" in EU and global climate policies. Mr Dimas responded by saying that countries' GDP and projected economic growth are being taken into account in the commission's burden sharing calculations for the 20 per cent emission reduction and renewables target for 2020.
Follow-up: European parliament http://www.europarl.europa.eu/,
plus meeting documents http://www.europarl.europa.eu/webnp/cms/lang/en/pid/554
See also speech by Stavros Dimas http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/07/583.
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