The EU will not allow the US to dictate global emissions policy, says Environment Commissioner
The European Union has announced its concern over recent statements from the US administration on the Kyoto protocol on climate change. 'The US position is extremely worrying,' said Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström, who goes to the USA on 2 April to hear the USA's exact position. 'The US must understand that this is not a marginal issue for the EU. It has implications for external relations including trade and economic affairs, and it cannot be played down.' The Commissioner finds four points of the US position particularly worrying: 'To suggest scrapping Kyoto and making a new agreement with more countries involved simply reflects a lack of understanding of political realities,' she said. 'It is like supporting European integration but on a different basis than the current EU. Kyoto is the platform we have to build upon and we would lose years of work if we were to start from scratch.' She stressed that developing countries are not exempt from the Kyoto protocol: '[...] Even if they do not have quantitative commitments to cut their greenhouse gas emissions in the short term (2008 to 2012) like the industrialised countries, they are involved and the best way to get them to consider making further commitments in the future is by supporting them with technical assistance, capacity building and the 'flexible mechanisms' (clean development mechanism) of the protocol. This is also essential in order to put them firmly on the track of sustainable development.' 'I am concerned that the outcome of a process involving 2000 international scientific experts is being questioned,' she continued. 'There is no doubt that there is a broad consensus in the scientific community that climate change is happening faster and to a greater extent that previously expected...Industrialised countries' credibility in tackling the problem would suffer from not having the US on board, as they are the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases with one of the highest levels per capita.' 'Like the US, we are also interested in finding cost-efficient solutions. However, we need real actions on the ground, not just window dressing. That is why we insist on sound rules. We are still open to discuss their problems, but the outcome must be balanced and meet the commitments undertaken; we will not allow the US to dictate the whole process.'