By Martin Banks - 13th December 2010
The international community achieved progress in Cancún. We are however making only step by step advancement. We have to ask ourselves whether the pace of this progress is sufficient enough for us
Jerzy Buzek
Parliament's president Jerzy Buzek has given a guarded welcome to the outcome of the Cancún climate conference.
The UN talks in Cancún reached a deal to curb climate change, including a fund to help developing countries.
Nations endorsed compromise texts drawn up by the Mexican hosts, despite objections from Bolivia.
The draft documents say deeper cuts in carbon emissions are needed, but do not establish a mechanism for achieving the pledges countries have made. Some countries' resistance to the Kyoto Protocol had been a stumbling block during the final week of negotiations.
However, diplomats were able to find a compromise as the talks ended on Friday.
Buzek said, "The international community achieved progress in Cancún. We are however making only step by step advancement. We have to ask ourselves whether the pace of this progress is sufficient enough for us.
"The effects of climate change don't wait for us to reach agreements. The longer we wait, the harder it will be for us to slow down the negative trends. I am aware that this is not an easy process but our responsibility towards future generations has to take priority.
"The EU should continue to put pressure on the rest of the world to reach a more ambitious agreement at a later stage. The European parliament will continue the fight against climate change."
A delegation from parliament, led by German Socialist Jo Leinen, participated in the negotiations in Cancún.
Further reaction came from Friends of the Earth Europe which condemned a "weak" package that it says "leaves the world further away from a just and strong agreement on tackling dangerous climate change."
It added, "It’s a package that has prevented collapse but has failed on the most important essential part- the substance."
Friends of the Earth Europe criticises the role of industrialised rich nations, including the EU, saying, "The EU didn’t fulfil their promise of playing a progressive role by hiding behind inaction from other countries and using the climate negotiations to push for the expansion of carbon markets."
Susann Scherbarth, climate justice campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe said: “Justice was not done in Copenhagen – and neither was it done here in Cancún.
"It is a shame that we are again left with another weak agreement that could lead to catastrophe. There is a long and challenging way to go to achieve a strong and fair agreement we need."
"The adopted package made could put the planet on track to catastrophic temperature increases of up to 5°C. Even setting up a green climate fund and recognition that current emission targets are not enough and have to be scaled up, real substance to prevent catastrophic climate change is missing."
It says key provisions are still in doubt, including the future legal framework is unclear, deep emission cuts for rich industrialised countries are missing, it brings in the pledge and review system from Copenhagen, the World Bank has a role in managing climate finance and the push for markets and for carbon trading is not acceptable.
The group says the EU must acknowledge its "historical" responsibility for causing the climate crisis and commit to binding emission reductions under the Kyoto Protocol of at least 40 per cent by 2020, without relying on carbon offsetting.
"In the absence of an agreement that prevents dangerous climate change we continue to demand binding national climate legislation, which would commit countries to making annual cuts in greenhouse gas emissions."
Elsewhere, the environmental group CAN-Europe said it "cautiously welcomes the mixed but hopeful result" in Cancún.
“Governments first took one step back but then two forward, all in the face of blocking tactics from industrialized countries like the USA and Japan that could have prevented an agreement,” said Matthias Duwe, director of CAN-Europe.
“But Cancún is not the end of the long walk. The political will for drastic action is still not strong enough for an adequate global response to the threat of climate chaos.
"But action at the national level shows many countries recognize the need for and the benefits of a green economy, and they must bring this confidence to the UN talks.”
Greenpeace international climate policy director Wendel Trio said, "Governments in Cancún have chosen hope over fear and put the world on a difficult but now possible-to-navigate path to a global deal to stop dangerous climate change.
“Cancún may have saved the process but it did not yet save the climate. Some called the process dead but governments have shown that they can cooperate and can move forward to achieve a global deal.”
"This year the world experienced more consequences of a changing climate--record heat, catastrophic natural disasters, and near-record melting sea ice in the Arctic. This is why next year’s talks in Durban, South Africa, must be the destination for a strong deal, not just another stop along the way.
“Cancún has delivered the momentum – but we haven’t arrived there yet. In Durban we need a global deal that helps countries build a green economy and that holds polluters accountable.”
