Merkel Calls for World Climate Agreement to be Signed by Mid-2010
Just a few weeks ahead of the World Climate Conference in Copenhagen, Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have urged leaders to pave the way for a viable climate protection agreement.
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- Chancellor Merkel with President Sarkozy (left) and Prime Minister Rasmussen in Brussels
- (© REGIERUNGonline/Bergmann)
"For some time now we have noted with great concern that ambitions of reaching an effective climate protection agreement appear to be dwindling," the German Chancellor said. But the UN conference in Copenhagen must and could be a success, she said.
On the sidelines of a meeting of the European Council in Brussels, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy called on the international community to make a clear political commitment in Copenhagen to the "2-degree target," according to which global warming is to be limited to no more than 2 degrees Celsius by 2050. Experts are unanimous that the worst of the consequences of the ongoing climate changes could thereby be averted.
Merkel and Sarkozy first met the Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, who will be hosting the climate conference, to discuss preparations for the conference.
After their meeting Merkel emphasised that realistic visions of how the world could achieve the crucial 2-degree target would have to be put forward in Copenhagen. The conference could only be deemed a success if it led to the signing of an agreement that enabled the 2-degree target to be achieved.
The Chancellor said that Europe would honour its commitments. The European Union had already taken the lead two years ago under the German Presidency by making a clear and ambitious voluntary commitment.
Appeal to newly industrializing countries
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- "Give a common signal in Copenhagen."
- (© Photo: REGIERUNGonline/Bergmann)
The Chancellor promised that European countries would do their best to support developing countries when it comes to climate protection. Now it was down to the newly industrialising countries, as future industrialised nations, to set themselves ambitious targets too.
President Sarkozy stressed that the basic agreement to be reached in Copenhagen would have to include binding regulations and concrete reduction targets. No-one should be allowed to evade what was a joint responsibility.
At the summit of 21 APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) member countries a few days ago, Prime Minister Rasmussen mobilized support for a political agreement on climate protection.
Follow-up agreement by mid-2010
Chancellor Merkel called for the Copenhagen Conference to be followed up by a legally binding agreement which should be in place by the end of June 2010 at the latest. In it countries should commit themselves under international law to concrete reduction targets and agree on financial burden-sharing. Originally, the follow-up agreement to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012, was to have been adopted in Copenhagen.
"We started the year in a difficult economic and financial crisis, and we in the G-20 have achieved a viable working relationship and agreed to cooperate at international level," Merkel reminded listeners. "That would all be worth very little if we failed at the climate conference on one of the biggest challenges humanity is facing."
