The momentum towards agreeing the key elements of a global deal on tackling climate change shifted to the US today (3 Nov) as President Barack Obama hosted a summit with European Union leaders.

 

 

The EU was represented by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso as well as the prime minister and foreign minister of Sweden, which holds the EU presidency.

 

They will be keen to hear from President Obama what the US Administration will bring to Copenhagen in terms of targets for cutting emissions and on providing finance to help poor countries tackle climate change.

 

The European contingent arrives in the US just days after leaders of the 27 EU member states became the first developed economic bloc to put a figure on the amount needed to help the poorer neighbours adapt to, and mitigate against global warming.

 

At the European Council on 30 October, leaders agreed for the first time that the price tag for tackling global warming would amount to €100bn (£90bn) a year by 2020, up to half of which would need to come from governments in the developed world.

 

Europe has already committed to achieve a 30% reduction in harmful emissions by 2020 compared to 1990 levels, as its conditional offer to a global and comprehensive agreement for the period beyond 2012.

 

This would be part of an overall objective of an aggregate developed country emission reduction of at least 80-95% by 2050.

 

Writing in the Dagens Nyheter newspaper, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt urged other countries to follow 'the EU's lead'. 'Other developed economies have to show the same leadership and commit to similar ambitious emission cuts, present proposals on financing and intensify their efforts,' he said.

 

'My message to both President Obama, the Senate and Congress is - now we must focus on climate.'

 

Countries accept that the Obama administration's hands have been tied by delays in Congress but they are urging the president to use his personal leadership ahead of Copenhagen.

 

The House of Representatives has approved a Climate Bill, while Senators Barbara Boxer and John Kerry have put forward a bill that aims for a 20% reduction of carbon pollution by 2020 from 2005 levels, which equates to a 7.3% cut from a 1990 baseline - the line used in the current talks.

 

However all seven Republicans on the US Senate Environment and Public Works Committee plan to boycott this week's work session on the bill, according to Reuters.

 

The cuts would be achieved through a cap-and-trade system that would allow companies to buy and sell vouchers according to whether they wanted to pay for the right to keep polluting or gain the incentive for reducing emissions.
Yvo de Boer, head of the UN framework convention on climate change, echoed the call for more ambition from the US. 'We need to see clear targets from the US at Copenhagen,' he said.

 

But US chief negotiator Jonathan Pershing insisted the US was playing a constructive role in the negotiations and remained fully committed to delivering an international deal.

 

'Notions that the US is not making an effort [are] not correct,' he told The Guardian, arguing that the best chance for delivering a binding international deal was to reach an agreement that the US could implement domestically with the approval of Congress. 'We and Congress recognise the need to move forward,' he added.

 

At their summit, the two sides are expected to reveal a new EU-US Energy Council to explore cooperation on energy security and efficiency. The meeting is the first formal summit to take place between the EU and the US during the Obama Administration.