While thousands of delegates and interested parties from all over the world start their second week of deliberations and meetings in Poznan, the EU has been laying the groundwork for a summit at the end of this week in Brussels. In January, the European Commission agreed to work toward an ambitious program of a 20% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from 1990 levels and a 20% target for renewables , all by the year 2020. See this from the EU for more.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who also holds the EU's rotating six-month presidency through the end of the year, has been working overtime recently to broker final agreement on the terms of the climate and energy package. See Sarkozy confident about EU climate "solidarity' deal from the EU news service EurActiv. What is at stake here is a ""solidarity fund' for Eastern and Central European states, whose economies are expected to suffer the most from the transition to a low-carbon economy." Ironically, even though the annual UNFCCC Conference of the Parties is being held in Poland, it is Poland that has been the most vocal about getting special treatment in the new EU agreement. 90% of Poland's power comes from coal. Poland, along with some other former Soviet bloc countries and Italy, have all been threatening to scuttle the agreement if considerable leeway isn't granted for them. (For more background on the issues, see this from AFP via Yahoo.)
Utilities in Europe that rely on coal are also pushing back. See Climate plan threatens coal-reliant utilities from the "FT" today.
However, and this is critical in my estimation, other power producers are calling for a change to low-carbon technologies. See Power Sector Speaks up on Climate Technology from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. The WBCSD has organized the Electricity Utilities Sector Project. The CEOs involved in this initiative said in their report, issued in Poznan, that "there is no time to lose and it is only through combined efforts that we will succeed in creating a low-carbon, sustainable energy future."
When the plan first came out at the EU Summit in May of 2007, I wrote here that German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her counterparts were showing superb leadership. Merkel said she felt " no little satisfaction that today we are able to go for such ambitious and credible targets." However, "Der Spiegel" is suggesting that Merkel Backpedals on Climate. "It used to be that when environmentalists looked to Berlin, they saw one of their closest allies in the fight against climate change." Now, "Merkel finds herself under fire from many of her former allies. In a Monday article in the mass-circulation tabloid "Bild,' Merkel said that she will not approve any European Union climate rules "that endanger jobs or investments in Germany.'" Yet the AP also reports today that Merkel, Sarkozy want climate plan at EU summit.
So, what will the outcome be from the summit? We'll know Friday. What is for sure, though, is that what comes out of Brussels this week will have enormous influence on what comes out of Washington next year and also from Copenhagen in December of 2009. Let's all hope the EU gets it right and the momentum continues toward meeting the climate crisis with the best we've got.
