EU, Japan team up to fight climate change

CLIMATE SCIENCE

Japan, the host of the Kyoto Protocol on fighting climate change, has not announced its mid-term target yet, but it has pledged to reduce carbon emissions by up to 80 percent by 2050. But the country is lagging badly behind in meeting its targets as the government hesitates at restricting industry amid an uncertain economy.

Czech president keeps counsel at EU-Japan summit
Eurosceptic Czech President Vaclav Klaus steered clear of controversy at an EU summit with Japan in Prague on Monday, which he chaired amid a Czech governmental crisis. The summit held within the Czech EU presidency dealt with climate change, which Klaus fervently denies is taking place, but the president told reporters the debate went "without (his) involvement." "The discussion was at a level where I had no motivation to enter," said Klaus who took over the chairmanship from Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose cabinet was toppled in March to be replaced by a temporary team on May 8. Klaus's decision to "get involved" in the presidency after the cabinet had fallen raised eyebrows across the EU, also because Klaus had once described the presidency as "unimportant" and himself as a "European dissident." At Monday's summit, the EU and Japan decided to join forces in the fight with climate change and invited large countries to follow suit. "This general level of the debate was quite acceptable for me even if I'm convinced that there is no global warming and there is almost no man-made global warming," said Klaus. "We have a free society, there are different opinions," said European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso, stressing that "we are clear about the EU position." In the past months, Klaus has been promoting his book on climate change called "Blue Planet, Green Shackles" as well as his frontal attack on the science of global warming all around the world. "Environmentalism and the global-warming alarmism is challenging our freedom," he said in a speech at the last Davos summit in January. Klaus has also likened environmentalists to the communists that ruled his country for 40 years and has branded the world's top panel of climate experts, the UN's IPCC, a smug monopoly. The Czech government has announced Klaus will also be in charge of the EU summits with Russia on May 21-22 and South Korea on May 23. The staunch opponent of the EU's reforming Lisbon Treaty may also chair the EU council meeting in June, which will deal with the treaty's text.

by Staff Writers
Prague (AFP) May 4, 2009
The European Union and Japan decided to join forces in the battle against climate change and invited large countries to follow suit at a summit meeting in Prague on Monday.

"Japan and the EU are aiming at building a low-carbon society. We believe that it is necessary for the United States, China, Russia to participate in a responsible manner," Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso told reporters.

US President Barack Obama vowed last month in Prague that the United States was "now ready to lead" on climate change, breaking with his predecessor George W. Bush, whose stance had long frustrated Europeans.

So far, the US has agreed to cut its carbon emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, while Europe has pledged to cut its own emissions by at least 20 percent of 1990 levels by 2020, and 30 percent if other advanced economies follow suit.

Japan, the host of the Kyoto Protocol on fighting climate change, has not announced its mid-term target yet, but it has pledged to reduce carbon emissions by up to 80 percent by 2050.

But the country is lagging badly behind in meeting its targets as the government hesitates at restricting industry amid an uncertain economy.

The EU and Japan said in a joint statement Monday that they recognised the "significance" of a report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), recommending a 25-40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions for industrialised countries by 2020.

They also urged developing countries to "develop or update their national action plans towards low carbon development... in a measurable, reportable and verifiable manner."

China, as a developing nation, did not accept cuts in greenhouse emissions under Kyoto, and it wants to see significant financial incentives from richer countries before it commits to reductions under the new pact.

European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said the EU and Japan were working together for a successful summit in Copenhagen in December, which is expected to produce a new climate treaty to replace Kyoto when it expires in 2012.

"We believe that Japan is a very important partner for the process," Barroso said after the meeting chaired by Czech President Vaclav Klaus whose country is the current holder of the rotating EU presidency.

Klaus has been a consistent sceptic on the issue of global warming but he maintained a diplomatic front, saying "the discussion was at a level that I had no motiviation to enter".

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CLIMATE SCIENCE

Decline In Greenhouse Gas Emissions Would Reduce Sea-Level Rise

Washington DC (SPX) Apr 21, 2009
The threat of global warming can still be greatly diminished if nations cut emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases by 70 percent this century, according to a new analysis.

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