EU summit argues over cost of climate aid
EU countries struggled today to decide how much climate aid to offer poorer nations.
Hungary and Poland demanded that richer states pay a larger share of the costs of enticing more governments to sign a new global climate change pact.
Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt – chairing a two-day EU summit in Brussels – said the community’s credibility was on the line, and failure to make a clear financial offer could jeopardise the UN climate conference in Copenhagen in December.
Mr Reinfeldt called on EU leaders to open their wallets and signal to the United States, Japan and other top donors to come forward with their own aid pledges.
“What I want to see is a more fixed sum that would open the way for others to do their part,” he said.
Hungary’s Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai said, however, that sharing the aid costs between all 27 EU nations “is not acceptable” for poorer, eastern members.
“We want a result this weekend, but not at any price,” Mr Bajnai said.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that Poland’s position, similar to Hungary’s, “is gaining acceptance in many European countries.”
The EU – a self-proclaimed leader in setting global climate change policy - wants other rich countries to match its pledge to cut emissions by 20% from 1990 levels by 2020, and says it will go even further and cut up to 30%, if other rich countries follow suit.
It also wants to reduce aviation emissions by 10% and shipping emissions by 20%, compared with 2005 levels.
The United Nations is looking to collect an annual global fund of £100bn (€111bn) by 2020 to avert scientific predictions of potentially catastrophic changes in sea levels, weather patterns and water resources.
The UN, environmental groups and even poorer nations themselves argue that a substantial aid package could help persuade the developing world to join a new global climate deal, meant to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
Developing countries say tough emissions limits would hamper their growth, and industrialised nations – who are responsible for much of the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere – should carry most of the burden.
The EU leaders, under international pressure this week to put an aid figure on the table for the global climate fund, are debating recommendations for how much they should give to help poor nations.
The European Commission suggests EU nations offer up to €15bn a year, while aid and environmental groups say Europe should be paying €35bn yearly by 2020.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown suggested Europe be prepared to pay up to €40bn, though it was unclear if that also included profits from trading carbon credits and bank loans.
Poland and the other poorer eastern members of the EU said they could not contribute as much as their richer counterparts, including Germany and France, due to the financial crisis. Warsaw suggested linking national contributions to past responsibility for adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, while others like Sweden and Germany want to leave the specifics on such burden sharing to a later date.
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