Poland blocks EU’s low-carbon roadmap
Poles refuse to set greenhouse-gas reduction targets for after 2020.
Environment ministers on Friday (9 March) were unable to adopt conclusions on the European Commission’s low-carbon roadmap for 2050 after Poland wielded its veto.
Poland objected to the roadmap’s identification of milestones beyond what has already been agreed – a 40% reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2030 and a 60% reduction by 2040. The EU has committed itself to a 20% reduction by 2020 and to reduce emissions by 80% by 2050.
Connie Hedegaard, the European commissioner for climate action, said: “Everyone tried to accomodate different Polish wishes, but in the end they blocked.”
Poland blocked adoption of the roadmap last June, when it objected to a reference to moving to a 25% reduction target for 2020. That reference was removed, but Poland said today it could not agree to any increase in ambition for 2030 or 2040 either.
Poland says such milestones would not allow each country to move at its own pace and decide its own energy mix. “The period the roadmap covers is too long to make such plans,” a Polish spokesperson said ahead of the vote. “It uses a different modelling instrument from what we are using…94% of our electricity energy is from coal: this is why we can only use data that is reliable.”
The European Alliance of Energy Intensive Industries cheered the Polish stance. “Setting unilateral more ambitious EU emissions reduction targets for 2030 and 2040 while ignoring at the same time the limited – if any – mitigation efforts third countries are prepared to make will not help investment in the EU,” the alliance said in a statement.
The roadmap may still be taken up again at June’s environment council or during the Irish presidency.
The roadmap did not call for the Commission to set-aside a certain number of allowances in the next trading period of the EU’s emissions trading scheme in order to raise the carbon price. MEP are expected to back a call for set-aside when they vote next week on Parliament’s report on the roadmap.
The idea of a set-aside has been most vocally opposed by Poland, but other member states are also sceptical. In a letter sent to ministers ahead of the meeting, Marcin Korolec, Poland’s environment minister, said he strongly objected to such “radical proposals” which would “undermine investor confidence in the stability of the EU climate legislation”.
Post-Durban
Ministers agreed conclusions for the way forward after the UN climate summit in Durban in December. The EU agreed to a second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol, in which it will participate virtually alone, in exchange for other countries signing up to a roadmap toward a future binding agreement in 2020.
One target for all of the EU had been envisioned, but Poland said this would be unfair. They insisted that each country be given different targets. The EU has only a few more weeks before it has to submit its commitment plan to the UN.
GMs
Ministers were unable to make any progress on the issue of national bans for genetically modified organisms (GMs). The discussion was considered to be the last chance for a deal during the Danish presidency. Denmark will not put forward any new compromise proposals on GMs, according to a Council source.
Member states are sharply divided on GMs, with some wanting them to be banned and others wanting the Commission to increase authorisations. A 2010 Commission proposal that would allow member states to enact national bans based on environmental or cultural grounds has been stalled, with no majority for or against.
The member states fighting authorisation think that unless they are allowed to ban the crops on health grounds, national bans would not stand up to legal scrutiny under EU law and at the World Trade Organization.
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Rio+20, Life+ and aviation
Ministers were able to come to an agreement on a mandate for the EU at the upcoming Rio+20 summit in June. They also discussed the Commission’s proposal for a restructuring of the Life+ environmental funding programme for the 2014-2020 period. The changes would introduce a new climate sub-programme within the scheme. The ministers were generally positive.
The European Commission also briefed the ministers on the international controversy around the EU’s inclusion of aviation in the ETS. Connie Hedegaard, the EU’s climate commissioner said after the meeting that all member states had expressed their full support for the scheme.