BALI ROADMAP LACKS SENSE OF URGENCY AND AMBITION:
European Greens will keep up the pressure on the EU to ensure it implements necessary targets
The Spokespersons of the European Green Party have said that the conclusion of the UN conference on climate change in Bali was very disappointing in the lack of ambition and specific targets in the agreement reached. However, the Spokespersons also recognised that the agreement does provide a "roadmap" of negotiations between now and 2009 that will hopefully result in a binding international agreement to take the action required to limit the effects of climate change.
EGP Co-Spokesperson Ulrike Lunacek said:" What the world was demanding from the government representatives meeting in Bali were binding and measurable targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We very much regret that no such firm targets for the reduction of CO2 emissions by industrialised countries have been included in the roadmap for negotiations.The current US administration, aided and abetted by Canada and Japan, did everything in its power to prevent the adoption of reduction targets for industrialised nations of 25-40% , the minimum commitment recommended by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on climate Change (IPCC). We condemn this irresponsible and obstructive attitude and can only hope that the new US administration which will take over after the 2008 elections will accept its responsibility to join the rest of the world in agreeing to specific targets and commitments. "
EGP Co-Spokesperson Philippe Lamberts continued:" While the compromise is much weaker than the type of agreement that the serious threat posed by climate change requires, there is still a lot to play for between now and the deadline for agreement on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol in 2009. The hard work starts now and the EU has a particular responsibility to reach its own targets for CO2 emissions. Even though the EU's targets are considerably less ambitious than we Greens think they should be, the EU and its member states have up to now been remarkably slow in implementing policies and taking the practical measures which will be needed if those targets are to be met. The EU has the potential to take on the role of leadership in the global fight against climate change but if it is to convert that potential into reality, then it must take much more real action than it has up to now. We European Greens will continue to closely scrutinise the decisions taken by the EU, its member states and other leading countries, so that it plays a role in ensuring that the Bali roadmap does not lead us to the middle of nowhere."
