NewEnergyNews: EU CLOSES DEAL ON CLIMATE FIGHT/

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    Founding Editor Herman K. Trabish

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    Sunday, December 14, 2008

    EU CLOSES DEAL ON CLIMATE FIGHT

    French President Nicolas Sarkozy says it was "quite historic" but the EU deal on measures to fight climate change reached Friday in Brussels is now, more than ever, a template for a coming global deal.

    As the EU agreement was being hammered out, UN delegates went on negotiating in Poznan, Poland, in another set-up for the world summit in Copenhagen in December 2009 when, for the first time, a U.S. government delegation truly committed to the fight will be sitting in.

    Here’s what Al Gore told the UN delegates in Poznan: "To those who say it's too difficult to conclude a deal by Copenhagen, I say it can be done, it will be done, let's finish this process…"

    So what does the Brussels deal, the template for a future global deal, look like?

    Negotiation was a 3-sided wrestling match between (1) influential progressive Western European leaders, (2) Big Emitters like power producers and energy-intensive industries, and (3) leaders of Emerging Economies in Eastern Europe who recoil at climate change measures that could slow their growth.

    The Western Europeans got their "20/20/20" package. The EU agreement reaffirmed commitment to – by 2020 – emissions cuts of 20% from 1990 levels, obtaining 20% of power from New Energy sources and 20% improvements in Energy Efficiency.

    How the EU can get 20% New Energy by 2020. From eutube via YouTube.

    Environmentalists attacked the deal for concessions made to the Big Emitters and the Emerging Economies.

    Sanjeev Kumar, EU coordinator, WWF: "This is a flagship EU policy with no captain, a mutinous crew and several gaping holes in it…"

    The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says world emissions must be cut 80% by 2050. Many believe this means 25-to-40% cuts by are required by 2020 and see this deal as sealing a glum fate.

    Arguments from the Big Emitters and the Emerging Economies about the difficulty of meeting more ambitious targets in the present economic circumstances were compelling. They were committed strongly enough to their position to threaten the possibility of any deal, leaving EU progressives with little choice but concessions.

    The compromise was craftsmanly diplomacy.

    In the Emerging Economies, where headlines about financial crisis are beginning to be a grim reality, many are still as much as 90-95% reliant on emissions-intensive coal-fired power generation. Their demand was that the more developed economies subsidize their shift to the “20/20/20” goal. A “solidarity fund” was allotted for that purpose.

    The “solidarity fund” was to be financed from auctions to Big Emitters of credits for emissions beyond capped levels.

    The power plants, constrained by the tight economy and unable to afford the extra costs of auctioned credits, threatened electricity supply cutbacks.

    The recession-burdened industries, also unable to pay for the credits, promised carbon leakage (or what NewEnergyNews calls “emissions rendition) – the migration of economy-boosting but emissions-intensive industries from emissions-capped European locations to Asia and other places where emissions are unconstrained.

    The result: There was no way to effectively finance the solidarity fund adequately so as to subsidize the transition of the Emerging Economies at the pace hoped for.

    The original plan, for 100% auction of emissions credits by 2013, was amended to 30% by 2013 and 100% by 2020. Special provisions were made for certain power plants. Another set of special provisions,
    derogations, were also made for industries that might add to carbon leakage.

    12% of revenues from the sale of credits will begin going to the solidarity fund and the Emerging Economies can begin their transition.

    A major new provision in the deal allows EU countries to offset 3% of their emissions via UN clean development mechanism (CDM) projects outside the EU.

    None of the players are entirely satisfied but all are still in the game. The problem: The clock is running out.

    By the time they convene for the "4th period" in Copenhagen in December of 2009, the urgency of global climate change will have their backs against the wall. And a fresh team of Big Emitters and Emerging Economies are coming into the game.

    The hope: Barack Obama is expected to be playing for the home team in Copenhagen. And Obama’s role model is Michael Jordan, who always played best at crunch time.

    See
    Renewable Energy Technology Roadmap; 20% by 2020 from the European Renewable Energy Council.

    There will be New Energy. (click to enlarge)

    EU leaders reach new climate deal
    12 December 2008 (BBC News)
    and
    EU climate deal struck at a price
    Laurence Peter, 12 December 2008 (BBC News)

    WHO
    European Union leaders (French President Nicolas Sarkozy, EU summit chairman; Jose Manuel Barroso, EU Commission President ); Al Gore, featured speaker; Claude Turmes, Green Member/EU Parliament and chief climate negotiators

    WHAT
    The EU completed its newest climate change deal while UN negotiations preparatory to next year’s global summit went on.

    WHEN
    - The EU “20/20/20” package: By 2020, the EU will cut emissions 20% from 1990 levels, obtain 20% of its power from New Energy sources and improve Energy Efficiency 20%.
    - December 2009: The next major meeting of the UN climate change convention
    - January 2009: The EU presidency passes from the French to the Czechs

    There will be Energy Efficiency. (click to enlarge)

    WHERE
    - The EU finalized its deal in the European Commission seat in Brussels, Belgium.
    - The UN convened an interim meeting in Poznan, Poland.
    - The crucial meeting of the UN on climate change, where the U.S. is expected to take a more active leadership role, will be in Copenhagen, Denmark.
    - In anticipation of the expected global deal in Copenhagen, some emerging economies (examples: China, Brazil and Mexico) have already made pledges on emissions cuts.

    WHY
    - The EU deal requires approval by the European Parliament. Sarkozy is determined to see it finalized by the end of this year.
    - EU leaders have already begun appealing to President-elect Barack Obama to follow Europe's lead.
    - Gore says he is optimistic a climate change deal will be reached next year the recession.
    - The most recent scientific reports recommend moving from a target atmospheric greenhouse gas level below 450 parts per million (ppm) to 350ppm, much harder to achieve but much more likely to avert the worst impacts of global climate change.
    - UN officials called the EU climate deal a success. Environmental groups were dismayed.

    click to enlarge

    QUOTES
    - EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso: "[These are] the most ambitious proposals anywhere in the world…Europe has today passed its credibility test. We mean business when we talk about climate…"
    - Al Gore: “Political systems in the developed world have become sclerotic - we have to overcome the paralysis that has taken over politics in these countries, rather than spending so much time on OJ Simpson and Paris Hilton and Anna Nicole Smith”
    - Claude Turmes, a Green MEP and one of the European Parliament's chief climate negotiators: "We must stop the dirty polluting lobbies dominating European politics. This is giving too much to the big polluters..."

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