Member states in quandary over last-minute Kyoto deal

Date: 11/12/1997

THE 11th hour deal struck at the climate change conference in Kyoto this week has left EU governments with a huge dilemma.

Following yesterday's (10 December) international agreement to cut global emissions of greenhouse gases by roughly half the amount the EU had called for, member states will have to decide whether to push ahead with their more ambitious plans.

The industry lobby has moved quickly to warn politicians that forcing companies within the Union to meet tougher emissions standards than their international competitors will seriously damage Europe's competitiveness on the world stage.

“We definitely continue to recommend to the EU not to make any unilateral steps forward,” said Daniel Cloquet of European employers' federation UNICE. “It is more important to draw up measures on an international basis,” he insisted, adding that he felt the deal agreed in Kyoto formed a good grounding for further developments.

However, UNICE's view is not universally shared by the business sector. Cogen Europe, a lobby group which promotes the use of power stations which produce both heat and power, is calling on the Union to stick to its original plan of cutting emissions to 15&percent; below 1990 levels by the year 2000.

The organisation has a vested interest in convincing governments to stick to their guns as one emissions-reduction strategy would be for member states to build more cogeneration power plants. However, Cogen Europe director Michael Brown argued that complying with tougher reductions targets would benefit EU industry as a whole.

“Of course, it would not be good for every business, but the overall impact would be good. The main reason for this is that it would make our economies more efficient,” said Brown.

The Cogen Europe boss added that Kyoto was likely to represent only a first step in the fight against global warming and that the level of cuts was likely to be “ratcheted up” in the future. He said that if the EU was already meeting tougher targets, this would give business a competitive advantage in the long run.

The European Commission has yet to say whether it will push for members to go beyond the Kyoto agreement. “Several member states would have wanted to go further and the Commission would have wanted to go further. I think it makes a good basis for further discussions,” said Peter Jørgensen, spokesman for Environment Commissioner Ritt Bjerregaard yesterday.

He added that the Union delegation would make a fuller assessment on their return to Brussels. EU environment ministers will have a first chance to discuss the Kyoto deal formally when they meet next Tuesday (16 December).