The Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen starts in just over a week. Press reports suggest that a comprehensive treaty to govern global emissions seems to be out of reach for the moment. This should not cause us to lose hope or even to assume that no further progress can been made. Across the world, meetings have been held at the bilateral and regional levels and these have had two very welcome outcomes. First, all leaders are convinced of the seriousness of the issue: a rise in mean global temperature of more than 2 degrees Celsius will cause irreversible damage to the world’s natural resource base and climate balance. Not taking action may cost us at least 5 percent of world GDP. Secondly, governments are beginning to take action as they are aware that 1-1.5 percent of global GDP invested in cleaner ways of living could mitigate these dramatic changes and begin to reverse the damage.

The European Union is taking historical responsibility for its emissions in the past and has taken important steps to address the climate change problem. Under the Kyoto protocol the then 15 EU Member States undertook to reduce emissions to 8 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. In December 2008, the European Union further committed itself to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 20 percent below 1990 levels; increasing the share of renewable energies to 20 percent of total consumption; and raising energy efficiency by 20 percent as well, all by the year 2020. It is prepared to go further if other developed countries make comparable commitments, and large emitters among the emerging economies take appropriate action to mitigate the growth of their emissions.

However, the challenge is a global one and requires an internationally agreed basis for sharing efforts and financing actions needed. Climate change was one of the top issues discussed at the EU-India Summit on 6th November. The European Union hopes that India will play a leading and progressive role in contributing eventually to a ‘formula’ for an ambitious and equitable outcome of the Copenhagen process which ensures sufficient financing by the developed countries and increased technology cooperation to facilitate developing countries to implement the new treaty.

The European Union and its Member States are already working with partners in India to give concrete support to national and regional objectives in the area of energy, climate change and clean development: an EU-supported project in Haryana has become the first small scale forestry CDM-funded project in the world; an EIB loan of €150 million targets climate change mitigation through renewable energy and energy efficiency projects; and a state partnership programme with Rajasthan looks at reforming the state water policy. The EU and India have recently launched a joint call for proposals in solar energy; and a multi-institutional project is looking at the consequences of global warming for rivers originating in the Himalayas and their downstream populations. The EU has also recently set up the European Business and Technology Centre in New Delhi, with additional centres in Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata. Climate change is a cross-cutting issue for these centres, intended to promote cooperation between business and research communities.

The EU is strongly committed to step up the cooperation with India on the journey towards a low carbon and sustainable economy and to contribute to the successful implementation of India’s National Action Plan for Climate Change.

Danièle Smadja
Ambassador