EU post-2012 climate change policy (Archive)[fr][de] 

The Kyoto Protocol - a binding addendum to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) - requires industrialised countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 5% compared to their 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012. The EU has committed to a reduction of 8% under this first commitment period.

Europe has been widely praised for taking a global leadership role in fighting climate change (for more background, read EurActiv's related LinksDossier). Launched in 2000, the European Climate Change Programme (ECCP) sought to deliver on the EU's Kyoto commitment by taking initiatives in wide-ranging areas, including the promotion of renewable sources of energy (see EurActiv's related LinksDossier) and energy-saving measures for buildings and cars.

But the jewel in the crown of Europe's climate change policy is the EU emissions trading scheme (EU-ETS), which began on 1 January 2005 (see EurActiv's related LinksDossier).

On 9 February 2005, the Commission proposed a strategy for the EU's future climate change policy after 2012 entitled "Wining the battle against climate change" (EurActiv, 10 Feb. 2005). The strategy suggests focusing on the following "core elements":

• Persuading all major world emitters to commit to a binding scheme, including the United States and rapidly emerging economies such as China and India
• Including more sectors in emissions reductions, including transport (aviation, maritime) as well as tackling the deforestation which increases global warming in some regions
• Promoting climate-friendly technologies
• Market-based instruments such as the EU Emissions Trading Scheme
• Adaptation policies in Europe and globally to deal with the inescapable impacts of climate change

However, the Commission preferred not to define precise targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in its draft, arguing that the paper was only designed to "structure the future negotiations of the EU with its global partners". This issue will undoubtedly come back to the fore of global climate negotiations in the years to come.

At a meeting in March 2005, the EU Council of Ministers went further than the Commission by suggesting ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets (15-30% by 2020 and 60-80% by 2050). The ministers also requested a global approach to the issue and invited the Commission to study the costs and benefits of future action (or inaction) as well as the competitiveness aspects of the future EU strategy (EurActiv, 11 March 2005).

The summit of EU leaders on 22-23 March 2005 only agreed to flexible targets for 2020 (EurActiv, 24 March 2005). The summit conclusions stated that a 15-30% cut in greenhouse gas emissions "should be considered" for 2020, but only "in the light of future work on how the objective can be achieved, including the cost-benefit aspect". At the insistence of Germany and Austria, heads of state and government did not mention any precise targets after 2020, refusing to take on the 60-80% cuts proposed by environment ministers for 2050.

Signatories to the Kyoto Protocol agreed in December 2005 to start negotiations to extend the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012  (EurActiv, 12 December 2005). An agreement was also found to launch talks under the broader UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to which non-Kyoto signatories, including Australia and the United States are also parties.

EU employers organisation UNICE has repeatedly condemned the EU-ETS for being "unilateral" and putting European companies at a competitive disadvantage compared to their major global competitors. For UNICE, the "first priority" is to meet the challenge of getting developed and developing countries to "join together in creating a truly global strategy". It therefore welcomed the proposed EU focus on international negotiations aspects but expressed its "disappointment" when the 2005 Spring Summit agreed to aim for specific reduction targets for 2020. According to UNICE, specific targets should only be developed "alongside other global partners". For UNICE, the key to success is cost-efficiency to secure the short and long-term competitiveness of EU industry as a pre-condition for  environmental investments.

As a large emitter of CO2, the electricity sector  insists on the long term legal certainty and clarity needed to invest into cleaner technologies. The Union of the European electricity industry, Eurelectric, says the EU's future climate framework should take account of the economic lifecycle of investments in their sector (10 to 20 years). Eurelectric expresses itself in favour of market-based instruments such as the EU-ETS but insists on making the Kyoto Protocol's flexible mechanisms available under a simplified procedure. Eurelectric supports the participation of all sectors and economic actors in the global effort to combat climate change.

Major downstream energy consumers such as the iron and steel industry expressed their "serious concerns about the possible consequences of any new unilateral EU climate change policy" on the sector's competitiveness. Pointing out that EU iron and steel producers have already achieved "more than twice" the 8% Kyoto reduction target with energy-efficiency measures, Eurofer says further significant reductions will not be possible without a new technological breakthrough. "Today the CO2 emissions per tonne of steel represent almost the theoretical limit for the process," says Eurofer.

Over the past years, environmental groups have generally praised the EU for taking a global leadership role in fighting climate change. But the discussions over Europe's future climate change policy have triggered mixed reaction from NGOs. Some, like Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, have respectively criticised the Commission and EU leaders for not setting clear enough reduction targets for the post 2012 period. Others such as the WWF have encouraged the EU for setting the stage for global international climate negotiations. WWF continues to lobby for energy-efficiency and clean energy production means as its preferred route to simultaneously "combat climate change, increase the EU's energy security and create a clean and efficient economy".