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Most viewed in Environment
The long, drawn-out saga of ratification of the Lisbon treaty and the consequent delays in appointing a new Commission mean that Stavros Dimas will go to the international climate change talks in Copenhagen in December as European commissioner for environment.
For Dimas, the test of success is getting an agreement that includes all countries and all sectors, and restricts the global temperature rise to no more than 2°C above pre-industrial levels. Above that level, scientists say, climate change becomes more dangerous. But recent evidence suggests that not enough is being done to stay within this 2°C limit. The commissioner gives a strong indication that the EU may have to revise its emissions targets. The EU is promising to cut emissions by 30% by 2020, but only if other developed countries join in.
“We have a 30% reduction target, which is according to what IPCC [the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] has told us. Of course, we know that there is newer scientific information and evidence that even this is not enough. But we have to work with the 30% right now at Copenhagen,” he says.
A Copenhagen agreement will have to be updated to respond to new science, he says. “We have to listen to what science is telling us. In Copenhagen [we propose] to be able to review the agreement so we can take into account what scientific information will be provided in the future.”
But ahead of Copenhagen, the EU has to finalise its strategy, most obviously on money. Dimas expresses confidence that this week's European Council (29-30 October) will deliver a proposal on climate finance. “Delaying the decision will not mean that the money we put on the table will be less,” he says.
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