05/09/2005 The EU and
China, two key actors in the global political
arena, have signed an agreement on global
warming, recognizing the huge economic, social,
and environmental importance of climate change.
At the Annual EU-China Summit in Beijing,
Chinas Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, Britain's
Prime Minister Tony Blair, who holds the European
Union Presidency, and the President of the
European Commission, José Manuel Barroso,
agreed on a "China-EU Partnership on
Climate Change and the Security of Energy
Supply", a wide-ranging cooperation in
energy and climate change matters.
"It is a very welcome signal that both
China and the EU recognise climate change
as a key geopolitical issue and are ready
to take concrete action to reduce its threats,"
said Jennifer Morgan, Director of the WWF's
Global Climate Change Programme.
"Unlike the recent Asia-Pacific Pact
with the United States and other countries,
this agreement includes policies, markets
and technologies, which should lead to real
and significant action."
Importantly, the cooperation agreement is
firmly placed in the context of the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol
and future international climate negotiations,
and reconfirms both partners' commitment to
work under the world's foremost multilateral
agreement on tackling climate change.
With China planning to invest an estimated
1.5 trillion in its power sector by 2030,
the Partnership features key measures focusing
on low-carbon technologies, with a high priority
on renewable energy technologies and energy
efficiency, as well as on a range of near
zero-emission coal technologies such as carbon
capture and storage.
This offers the opportunity to ensure the
next generation of energy installations in
China will be as low carbon as possible, and
to avoid a lock-in in climate-damaging infrastructures.
In their partnership, China and the EU will
tackle financing issues involved in these
investment decisions. The partners agreed
on significantly bringing down costs for modern
energy technologies by 2020, to use export
credits to support carbon-free technologies,
and to explore market based instruments such
as emissions trading.
"With this agreement, the carbon market
just took a big step in moving into the big
time," said Morgan. "An EU-Chinese
partnership to use the market to leverage
a low carbon economy is very exciting."
WWF calls upon India and the EU, who will
stage their summit meeting on Wednesday in
New Delhi, to step up to the mark and secure
their place as global leaders on securing
a climate-safe and viable energy future.
NOTES:
Carbon Capture and Storage includes technologies
to capture CO2in the production of power and
other industrial processes before it is emitted.
The CO2 is then pumped into geological storage
spaces, mostly formations that formerly were
filled with oil or natural gas. WWF supports
research on geological sequestration and welcomes
such research occurring in China.
Investment figures in the Chinese energy
sector according to World Energy Investment
Outlook, IEA 2003
The main financial issues discussed were
carbon financing and export credits. Carbon
financing includes a whole range of public
and private mechanisms to put a price on CO2
emissions, thus making investments in CO2
reduction more viable. One key tool that the
EU has implemented is emission trading. Another
tool of common interest to both countries
is the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM),
a tool developed under the Kyoto Protocol.
CDM allows industrialised countries to account
emission reductions through investments in
developing countries towards their binding
Kyoto reduction goals.Export credits are governmental
guarantees for investment risks for industrial
country investors in developing countries.
The EU and other governments are committed
to keep global average temperature increase
below 2°C above pre-industrial levels
to avoid dangerous climate change.
