EU pushes for deep cuts in world climate gases

The EU has called on all industrialised countries to make deep cuts in greenhouse gases in a submission ahead of talks on post-2012 global climate policy. The talks will be the first since world governments agreed in Montreal last December to begin discussing the issue in earnest.

A working group of countries that have ratified the Kyoto protocol will kick off the post-2012 talks in Bonn between 17 and 25 May. Just prior to this a broader "dialogue" on long-term climate change policy will be launched, bringing together both developed and developing countries.

The EU takes at its starting point a plea for policy to be guided by the UN climate change convention's ultimate objective of avoiding dangerous climate change, which it says should be taken as limiting an increase in world temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius.

To achieve this, scientists suggest that the world as a whole will have to reduce emissions by 15-50% by 2050, the EU says. As a more focused goal, it says, developed countries should make cuts of 15-30% by 2020 and further cuts by 2050, it goes on.

The EU insists that further binding quantified emission limits will have to be set for the post-2012 period.  Only with such limits will the Kyoto protocol's flexible mechanisms of joint implementation, the clean development mechanism and international emission trading also be able to function effectively, it argues.

At its first meeting, the Kyoto working group should try to agree a work programme to take forward discussions, the EU says.  It flags up a number of issues to be resolved, including the length of future commitment periods, how carbon sinks should be treated and whether emissions by aviation and international shipping should be brought into the protocol.

The EU's paper is one of about a dozen so far received by the UN climate change convention secretariat in Bonn.  It expects to start posting submissions on the internet in about a week's time, according to an official.

Follow-up: UNFCCC http://unfccc.int/2860.php, and EU submission http://www.environmentdaily.com/docs/60327b.pdf.

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