The European Union on Saturday hailed progress made at a worldwide conference on climate change in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
”The EU welcomes the solid progress made at the United Nations climate change conference which ended [Friday] in Nairobi,” the bloc’s current Finnish Presidency said in a statement.
”The Nairobi climate change conference has been a success and I congratulate Kenya on this achievement,” Finnish Environment Minister Jan-Erik Enestam, who led the EU at the conference, said.
At their meeting the 168 members of the United Nations pact for cutting greenhouse gases agreed to launch negotiations in 2008 over the next round of pledges for tackling global warming.
The negotiations will determine action for curbing carbon pollution from 2013 to 2017, after Kyoto’s present commitment period expires in 2012.
The 2008 negotiations are officially a ”review” of the Kyoto Protocol — a broad assessment of what changes should be made for the treaty’s next commitment period.
Environment ministers from industrialised countries also agreed that global emissions of greenhouse gases had to be halved, although they did not set a date.
”The European Union has achieved all its main priorities and continues to lead the battle against climate change,” Enestam said.
”We came here above all to drive progress on adaptation issues and pave the way for strong further action to cut emissions, and that is what we have done. Now we need to ensure that action follows urgently.”
EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas commented: ”I am pleased that the Nairobi conference has achieved so much to help developing countries cope with the huge challenge of climate change.
”It is increasingly clear that global emissions need to be halved by mid-century if we are to have a chance of keeping climate change within tolerable limits.
”The work plan agreed here is an important step towards defining the shape of future global action, but the international community needs to step up efforts to complete the process as soon as possible.” — Sapa-AFP