Main focus of Friday, December 12, 2008

Climate talks

Today, Friday, the EU's heads of state and government hope to approve a climate protection package at their summit in Brussels and then present it at the UN Climate Change Conference in the Polish city of Poznań. Europe's press comments on the current results of the international climate talks.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung - Germany

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung comments on the EU's decision regarding emissions certificates for the control of greenhouse gases: "Certificate policy is a legitimate, powerful instrument for the state to limit the quantity of harmful emissions. But making companies pay for the initial allocation of certificates is an arbitrary tax in the name of environmental protection. The key point is that the certificates allocated should be tradeable. In this way prices are reached for the right to pollute which ensure that producers achieve the politically desired quality. This fosters an environment for investments which are in and of themselves environmentally sound, and thus do not require accompanying investment in the form of emissions certificates, which will only become increasingly rare and increasingly expensive as the economy grows. That is environmental policy based on the market value of pollution avoidance." (12/12/2008)

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La Repubblica - Italy

The left-liberal daily La Repubblica comments on Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's new willingness to compromise. His threats to veto the package had jeopardised the climate protection negotiations. "The fear of cutting a poor figure and of attacks from the Left are behind Berlusconi's sudden U-turn. ... Italy will be satisfied; it demands laxer measures to avoid the threat of production being shifted to countries with few or no climate regulations. The goal of the EU is to put together a respectable climate package in readiness for the international negotiations on climate protection in 2009, when all states will have to agree on a follow-up to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. The hope is that the EU together with [Barack] Obama's US and his new climate plan can convince the rest of the world to endorse climate protection." (12/12/2008)

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El País - Spain

El País comments on the climate compromise being reached at the UN summit in Poznań: "Despite the overridingly pessimistic expectations ... the climate summit in Poznań has taken a surprising turn. ... This change is certainly due to anticipations for the upcoming presidency of Barack Obama, who has announced he will strive to stimulate the economy in part through the development of alternative energy. As a next - or simultaneous - step, which for the most part will be concretised today, the EU summit must coordinate the varying interests of the 27 members, all of which are at different levels of development and have varying energy needs." (12/12/2008)

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Delo - Slovenia

Many politicians forget in view of the global economic crisis that they have committed themselves to conserving the earth for coming generations, comments the daily Delo. The adoption of the EU climate package and the negotiations in Poznań are also being slowed by the crisis, the paper writes: "Some industrial nations have started to repeat the accusations of the biggest developing countries. In these times of economic crisis they have recalled that they could be freed from their committments. But one wonders what the small islands will say to that which will disappear under the surface of the ocean in the next decades even though they did nothing to harm the planet. ... Moreover, the talks are being slowed by the fact that Barack Obama's new government has yet to take up office. Even India and China are waiting to hear what the US will decide on strategies for climate change before they ... even agree to discuss reducing their own emissions. Sooner or later the rich will have to give in, otherwise our planet can expect a far more in-depth cleansing - in the fight for survival. Nevertheless the rich countries are far outnumbered by the desperate poor who have nothing to lose." (12/12/2008)

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