On 30 October, heads of state and government of the 27 member states of the European Union adopted a mandate ⁽¹⁾ laying out the positions that they will be defending during the global climate change conference in Copenhagen. The mandate is very clear and littered with figures and statistics. Except one, the only one to which the international community attaches any importance: the funding that the European Union will put forward to help developing countries adapt to climate change. “A question of strategy,” say European negotiators. They are scheduled to meet in Brussels, on 10 and 11 December, when they will state their intentions “depending on progress made in Copenhagen”. In this context it is clear that the presence of the United States President, Barack Obama, in Copenhagen will have a major impact on their decision.

KEY ELEMENTS OF MANDATE

Legal status: The agreement should be “legally binding” with effect from 1 January 2013 and based on, and including, the essential elements of the Kyoto Protocol. All countries are expected to commit to it and all, including those which are not party to the Kyoto Protocol, are expected to act now and not wait until January 2013.

Targets:The agreement should include the target of maintaining the increase in temperature below 2°C compared with the pre-industrial era and a commitment to reduce global emissions by at least 50% by 2050. It should provide for accumulated emission reductions in developed countries of between 80% and 95% at least by 2050 compared with 1990. The EU is committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 20% or even 30% by 2020 compared to 1990 provided that other developed countries commit to similar emission reduction targets and that developing countries, particularly the most developed, contribute according to their respective responsibilities and capacities.

Carbon market: The EU will call for a global carbon market, based on solid systems of maximum ceilings and exchange in developed countries, a revised Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and sectoral mechanisms of exchange credits that can be applied in developing countries. Given the large number of assigned amount units (AAU) accumulated during the current commitment period, which could destabilise the carbon market, the EU feels that the question should be treated in a “non discriminatory manner, according to the principle of equality between European and non-European countries and in such a way that managing the excess AAU will not impact on the environmental integrity of the new agreement”.

Financing:The EU estimates the net total added cost for developing countries in combating and adapting to climate change to be in the region of €100 billion per year by 2020. It will be financed partly by the countries’ own efforts and partly by international public funding of between €22 billion and €50 billion per year by 2020. All, except the least developed countries (LDC) are expected to contribute to the international public funding in accordance with a global distribution key based on emission levels and GDP. The EU will “assume its share,” the mandate indicates, although it does not specify what this might be. The EU has also called for an immediate initial outlay fund of between €5 billion and €7 billion per year for the first three years after agreement is reached (2010 to 2012) on the understanding that here again the EU’s contribution will depend on comparable efforts from other key players.

Fight against deforestation:The EU will call for measures to combat deforestation, such as the use of the soil, changing soil and forest allocation and the introduction of incentives to promote a reduction in deforestation and the deterioration of forests to be taken into account. It supports the creation of a mechanism based on the results and which takes the verified emission reductions into consideration.

The EU ‘s mandate is very clear and littered with figures and statistics
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