This Conference includes the eleventh session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 11) and the first session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (COP/MOP 1). The report also gives an overview of various actions to be undertaken at European field for the coming years.
The text adopted tries to define the main axes of the EU strategy on climate change:
- building on key Kyoto elements - binding greenhouse gas emission targets, a global cap-and-trade system, and flexible mechanisms;
- undertaking strong emissions reductions at home, starting with 20-30% domestic reductions by 2020, using a combination of market incentives and regulation to stimulate investments in efficiency and/or carbon-free and low-carbon technologies;
- adopting a pro-active approach to engage other main actors, notably the US;
- developing a strategic partnership with countries like China, South Africa, Brazil and India to assist them in developing sustainable energy strategies and secure their participation in mitigation efforts;
- vigorously promoting research and innovation for sustainable energy technologies and removing ‘perverse’ incentives such as fossil fuel subsidies as well as internalising external costs, including those of climate change, into the price of energy production;
- requiring the political system to take responsibility for facilitating measures to enable citizens to reduce their own impact on climate;
- encouraging much greater direct involvement in mitigation efforts at the level of the European citizen, a necessary prerequisite being the provision of detailed information about the carbon content of products and services and a future option being a system of personal tradable quotas.
MEPs also call on the European Institutions to set a positive example by limiting greenhouse gas emissions in their various activities, through enhanced energy efficiency in office buildings and for all equipment used, low carbon travel etc.; special efforts should be made in relation to travel of Members of Parliament, implying a reconsideration of the double location of the EP, low-carbon vehicles for the drivers´ service etc.
MEPs support "the introduction of ecotaxes at Community level" and call "on the Commission to put forward proposals and on the Member States to adopt the first European ecotax by 2009 at the latest".
