Conference in Vienna to prepare climate summit in Bali
At the UN conference starting today in Vienna which will last until Friday (31 August), about 1,000 experts from all over the world will prepare the Climate Change Conference in Bali in December. It is planned that the start of comprehensive negotiations on a follow-up agreement to the Kyoto Protocol will be agreed on in Bali. The focus of the Vienna conference will be discussions of key elements of international post-2012 climate protection agreements and a joint work plan and schedule until 2009.
Federal Environment Minister Gabriel said: "We need a new climate protection agreement by 2009 for the time after 2012. Time is running out. We have to act now if we want to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. By the middle of this century the worldwide greenhouse gas emissions have to be halved compared to 1990 levels."
This spring, under the German Presidency, the EU agreed on a position for the negotiations on a post-2012 climate protection agreement: the EU is willing to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2020 (compared to 1990 levels) if other industrialised nations make similar commitments and newly industrialising countries contribute adequately. Industrialised countries are to make commitments adding up to a total reduction of 30% by 2020 and a 60 – 80% reduction by 2050 (compared to 1990 levels). Other important elements of the negotiation package are strengthening the carbon market, significantly intensifying efforts with regard to adaptation to climate change, increasing technological cooperation and reducing emissions from deforestation, aviation and navigation. Another aim of the EU is for the Parties to the Convention to agree in Bali on a joint work plan and schedule until 2009 which will combine the different lines of negotiation.
Another focus of the Vienna conference is the financing of climate protection and adaptation measures in developing countries in particular. The Climate Change Secretariat will present an analysis of existing and planned investment flows. The major topic of the last workshop in the framework of the so-called convention dialogue, which was agreed on by the global community at the Climate Change Conference in Montreal (December 2005), will be financing mechanisms to steer these investment flows on an environmentally friendly course. The convention dialogue will be ending in Bali. There, the EU wants to follow up on the convention dialogue and use this as a basis for a line of negotiations for the various elements.
Further information:
- Press Release as of 02.09.2007: Gabriel: Final preparations for Bali have started
- www.bmub.bund.de/english/climate