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EU Says Cancun May Start 'Concrete Actions' in Climate Battle
2010-10-25 16:02:15.708 GMT
By Ewa Krukowska
Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Negotiators may be able to agree on
ways to adapt to climate change, transfer technologies and slow
deforestation when they meet next month in Cancun, Mexico, a
senior European Union official said today.
"What is within reach is a number of agreements that would
allow concrete actions to start," Laurence Graff, head of
international relations unit at the European Commission's
climate department, told a seminar today in Brussels. Envoys may
agree on frameworks to help mainly developing countries cope
with the effects of global warming and put systems in place to
begin measuring and slowing emissions of greenhouse gases.
The 27-nation EU has stated intentions to be a leader in
the fight against global warming. It is on schedule to meet its
2020 goal of cutting greenhouse gases by 20 percent from 1990
levels and has said it would be willing to move to 30 percent if
other countries follow suit. It stopped short of setting a more
ambitious target at global climate talks in Copenhagen last
year, citing a lack of comparable effort by the U.S. and China.
In Copenhagen, negotiators failed to reach a binding deal
to set a framework for greenhouse-gas reduction when the Kyoto
Protocol expires in 2012. Instead, they settled for a political
accord calling for $100 billion a year by 2020 to fund climate
efforts in poorer nations. They also vowed to stop global
temperature increases at 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees
Fahrenheit) higher than in pre-industrial times.
The United Nations conference in Cancun starts Nov. 29. It
is unlikely to produce a deal on mitigation targets, Graff said.
"We need to be ambitious but realistic and manage
expectations so that we can lay the ground for action and
provide a good milestone for an international regime that would
be finalized later," he said.
For Related News and Information:
Most-read climate stories: MNI CLIMATE <GO>
Emission market news: NI ENVMARKET <GO>
Today's top energy stories: ETOP <GO>
--Editors: Mike Anderson, Alex Devine.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Ewa Krukowska in Brussels at +32-2-237-4331 or
ekrukowska@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or
sev@bloomberg.net
