http://www.environmentdaily.com
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Prodi tries to hold the line on Kyoto protocol
Environment Daily 1576, 17/12/03
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European Commission president Romano Prodi affirmed "firm support"
for
the Kyoto climate change protocol on Tuesday. His statement to the
European parliament was a clear attempt to steady political nerves
after signs of failing EU commitment to the treaty.
"The Commission firmly supports the Kyoto protocol and its full
implementation by the EU," said Mr Prodi. "We are not changing our
position or going back on the targets that we have agreed". "We are
confident that Russia will ratify the protocol so it can enter into
force," he added.
Mr Prodi's statement follows moves by Spain and the Italian EU
presidency last week to write into EU leaders' statement at the weekend
text identifying the protocol as an unreasonable financial burden (ED
15/12/03
http://www.environmentdaily.com/articles/index.cfm?action=article&ref=15741).
EU environment commissioner Margot Wallström supported the president
by insisting that "we can meet our Kyoto obligations without harming
our economy". "If we were to go back to the drawing board to negotiate
another treaty we would lose five or ten years at least. But climate
change doeesn't go away," she added.
Both politicians were also trying to neutralise EU energy commissioner
Loyola de Palacio's suggestion on Monday that the bloc needed a 'plan
B' in case Russia decided against ratifying the protocol. "We need to
look at other possible scenarios", she said after a meeting of EU
energy ministers.
According to a report by Associated Press, Ms de Palacio also claimed
that it would be "suicide" for the EU to continue respecting the
protocol without Russian participation. Specialist news service Point
Carbon suggested she was preparing a path back to Spanish politics
after her tenure as an EU commissioner ends next September. Spain's
greenhouse gas emissions have grown out of control, sparking a rising
domestic political backlash (ED 08/12/03
http://www.environmentdaily.com/articles/index.cfm?action=article&ref=15694).
* In a related development, the World meteorological organisation
(WMO) warned on Tuesday that 2003 is on track to become the world's
third warmest year in the last millenium. The warmest year on record
was 1998, the second warmest 2002.
As well as heatwaves in some regions, including Europe, the UN body
noted, this year has seen severe flooding in others and above normal
numbers of hurricanes and typhoons. "Extreme weather and climate
events require enhanced action," WMO's secretary-general said in an
accompanying statement.
Follow-up: European Commission http://europa.eu.int/comm/index_en.htm, tel:
+32 2
299 1111, and press release
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=IP/03/1747|0|RAPID&lg=EN&display=.
See also articles by Associated Press
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2003/12/16/046.html, Reuters
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L15213419.htm and Point Carbon
http://www.pointcarbon.com/article.php?articleID=2980. See also WMO
http://www.wmo.ch/index-en.html and 2003 climate status report press
release http://www.wmo.ch/web/Press/Press702_en.doc and statement
http://www.wmo.ch/web/Press/Press701_E.doc.
Republished with permission of Environment Daily
http://www.environmentdaily.com
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Governments agree Kyoto climate sinks rules
Environment Daily 1573, 12/12/03
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Carbon credits generated by forestry "sinks" under the Kyoto
protocol's clean development mechanism (CDM) will be time-limited
because of the scientific uncertainties surrounding them, ministers
have agreed at climate talks in Milan which ended on Friday.
The decision means world governments have virtually finalised the
protocol's rules on carbon sinks: besides the accord on credits under
CDM, a separate set of guidelines on accounting for sinks in national
climate gas inventories was adopted. Now only rules for the crediting
of small-scale sinks projects remain to be agreed.
Under the CDM deal, funders of sinks projects will be able to choose
whether the temporary credits generated will be of short or long
duration. "Short-term" credits will last for 20 years, renewable twice
for up to a further ten years. To generate long-term credits lasting 60
years, project managers must apply tighter monitoring rules.
The proposal came originally from the EU, which has long been
sceptical of the value of sinks in climate change; it was preferred to
a Canadian plan for project organisers to take out sinks "insurance"
in
case plantations burned down.
Jutta Kill of forest campaign group Fern said it was "fine and nice"
that the temporary nature of sinks had been formally acknowledged, but
complained the new rules raised few obstacles to the emergence of
damaging monocultural plantations: NGOs' suggestions that genetically
modified and invasive species should be excluded had also been ignored
by ministers, she said.
Aside from the sinks issue ministers also made progress on funding for
developing countries to respond to climate change; a row over whether
and how oil-producing countries should be compensated for lower
fossil-fuel demand through Kyoto was postponed, allowing an annual
$410m fund for developing countries to be adopted. As Environment Daily
was published delegates were still debating other funding questions.
The European Commission described the Milan talks as a success. A
spokesperson for EU environment commissioner Margot Wallström said that
despite pessimistic predictions during the autumn, parties to the Kyoto
protocol had reaffirmed that they were "dedicated to living up to what
they had promised".
Follow-up: UN framework convention on climate change http://unfccc.int/ and
COP-9
pages http://unfccc.int/cop9/index.html; Fern http://www.fern.org/,
tel: +44 1608 652 895.
Republished with permission of Environment Daily
http://www.environmentdaily.com
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EU energy security package proposed
Environment Daily 1571, 10/12/03
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The European Commission adopted on Wednesday a draft legislative
package designed to promote investment in the EU energy sector and
prevent a reoccurence of the blackouts experienced in several countries
earlier this year. It also issued a draft directive on energy services
including energy efficiency targets, on which we will report further in
tomorrow's edition of Environment Daily (ED 26/11/03
http://www.environmentdaily.com/articles/index.cfm?action=article&ref=15611).
The energy security legislation comprises a directive on electricity
infrastructure and security of supply, a decision revising guidelines
for trans-European electricity and gas networks, and a regulation on
gas transmission networks. Its appearence follows weeks of wrangling
within the Commission (ED 24/11/03
http://www.environmentdaily.com/articles/index.cfm?action=article&ref=15591).
Although the directive's final text was not made available today,
Environment Daily understands it closely reflects draft proposals from
energy commissioner Loyola de Palacio - save for a slightly higher
profile for renewable energy sources.
Under the directive member states would have to develop policies on
how to satisfy electricity demand and define standards to ensure secure
transmission and distribution. Transmission system operators and
national energy regulators would play a bigger role than now in
producing and monitoring investment strategies. Member states would be
required to "take into account" the need to develop renewables.
Environmental groups immediately attacked the package's emphasis on
increasing centralised generation and cross-border transmission as a
route to greater security of supply. Friends of the Earth (FoE) called
it "an outdated approach... that has been disastrous for the
environment". It called for the package to be rejected and for "new
proposals that reflect 21st century thinking about energy".
WWF urged EU governments and parliament to "give high-level priority"
to energy efficiency and conservation over the promotion of new supply
when they scrutinise the legislation. A "more efficient use of
existing infrastructure resources in Europe" would be the best route to
avoiding future blackouts, WWF said.
The decision on trans-European energy networks would introduce
fast-track approval procedure for projects of "European interest".
Green MEP Claude Turmes claimed that planning and environmental rules
might be ignorted, calling the proposal "an unacceptable attempt to
weaken the checks and balances in the EU democracy".
Mr Turmes attacked the overall package as an "attempt to fill the
pockets of the coal and nuclear industries at the expense of the
environment, the European taxpayers and the internal market." He
claimed it also "jeopardises the EU commitments under the Kyoto
protocol on climate change".
In a statement issued on Tuesday, electricity industry association
Eurelectric said that "continuing adequate and timely investment across
the entire supply chain" was needed to guarantee security of
electricity supply. It urged regulators to "promote regulatory
stability and consistency" and to create "an investment-friendly
environment in Europe".
Follow-up: European Commission http://europa.eu.int/comm/index_en.htm, tel:
+32 2
299 1111 and press release
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=IP/03/1694|0|RAPID&lg=EN&display=.
See statements from FoE
http://www.foeeurope.org/press/2003/MJ_10_dec_palacio.htm, WWF
http://www.environmentdaily.com/docs/31210a.doc (plus briefing
http://www.environmentdaily.com/docs/31210b.doc), Greens/EFA
http://www.environmentdaily.com/docs/31210c.doc, Eurelectric
http://www.eurelectric.org/PublicDoc.asp?ID=26586, Greenpeace
http://www.environmentdaily.com/docs/31210d.doc. See also European
Commission's release on energy services
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=IP/03/1687|0|RAPID&lg=EN&display=.
Republished with permission of Environment Daily
http://www.environmentdaily.com
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Court clarifies renewable energy purchase rules
Environment Daily 1570, 09/12/03
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The European court of justice has handed down a potentially
significant judgement regarding how far public authorities can favour
renewable energy when awarding electricity supply contracts. The
ruling follows hard on the heels of a political agreement on revised EU
public procurement rules that will for the first time explicitly allow
authorities to set environmental or social conditions (ED 04/12/03
http://www.environmentdaily.com/articles/index.cfm?action=article&ref=15671).
Issued on 4 December, the court's ruling is based on existing EU
procurement rules and concerns a dispute between an Austrian
electricity supplier and the national authorities. The firm,
Wienstrom, was an unsuccessful tenderer for a supply contract.
Austria's federal procurement office must now rule on the specific
dispute, but the European court's judgement sets a legal benchmark on
several issues.
Authorities can in principle stipulate that production be renewable as
a condition in a public supply contract, the court has ruled, since
renewable energy helps to protect the environment and the condition is
clearly linked to the contract's subject matter. This aspect of the
ruling follows exactly the court's landmark "Helsinki bus" judgement
of
2002, which established that contracting authorities could take account
of environmental issues within certain limits (ED 17/09/02
http://www.environmentdaily.com/articles/index.cfm?action=article&ref=12881).
Going beyond the general principle established in the Helsinki bus
case, the court's ruling addresses specific conditions in the disputed
contract, with potential lessons for other authorities.
One condition was the contract's award criteria, which specified that
55% of the decision would be based on cost and the rest on ability to
provide electricity from renewable sources. Despite forming such a
large part of the equation, the 45% weighting on renewables is not
incompatible with EU law, the court has ruled.
Furthermore, the court suggests that the fact that suppliers cannot
guarantee electricity supplied actually comes from renewable sources
should not in principle be a barrier to specifying it as an award
criterion. "The fact that the criterion does not necessarily serve to
achieve the objective pursued is irrelevant," its judgement reads.
However, the judgement also demonstrates limits to the specification
of renewables in electricity supply contracts. In the Austrian dispute
in question, it notes, the authority failed to require verification of
renewable production, while requiring tenderers to state how much
renewable power they could provide in total, including the authority
and other users. Both are incompatible with EU law, the court has
ruled.
Follow-up: European court of justice http://www.curia.eu.int/en/index.htm,
tel:
+352 43031 and judgement in case C-448/01
http://www.curia.eu.int/jurisp/cgi-bin/form.pl?lang=en&Submit=Submit&docrequire=alldocs&numaff=c-448/01.
Republished with permission of Environment Daily
http://www.environmentdaily.com
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Russia May Reject Kyoto Protocol In 'Current Form'
By JEFFREY BALL and JEANNE WHALEN
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
An aide to the president of Russia raised new questions about whether the pivotal country will ratify the Kyoto Protocol, even as the Bush administration prepared to use a big United Nations conference on global warming to argue that its voluntary approach to the environmental problem is a credible alternative to the Kyoto treaty's mandates.
Andrei Illarionov, an adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, told reporters in Moscow Tuesday that Russia wouldn't ratify the Kyoto Protocol "in its current form." With the U.S. having rejected the treaty, Russia's ratification is necessary to put the agreement into effect.
Despite Mr. Illarionov's statement, however, a spokesman for the Russian government, which is headed by the prime minister, said the government hasn't decided whether it will support or reject the treaty. "The Russian government does not yet have a clear position on the Kyoto Protocol," said Alexei Gorshkov, the spokesman. "The question is being reviewed, and there are different opinions."
U.S. officials, who asked not to be identified, say they believe the debate over Kyoto in Moscow is still under way and won't be settled until after Mr. Putin stands for re-election in March. These officials say some of Mr. Putin's aides argue that Russia should extract more benefits from European countries as part of ratification.
Mr. Illarionov's comments echo ones he made at a climate conference in Moscow two months ago in which he said the Kyoto Protocol discriminates against Russia. His latest comments came as Mr. Putin, meeting with a group of European and Russian businessmen Tuesday, criticized the European Union for making unreasonably tough demands to Russia's joining the World Trade Organization, according to Russia's Prime-Tass news agency.
Russia generally is viewed as a big winner under the Kyoto Protocol. Because
its economy collapsed after 1990, the year the Kyoto Protocol sets as a baseline
for global-warming emissions, the country would receive what amount to massive
emissions credits under the treaty. Russia then could sell those credits to
businesses or countries outside its borders.
But some in Moscow worry that because the U.S. isn't participating in the treaty,
Russia stands to earn far less from the sale of emissions credits than it had
expected. Russia should demand guarantees from European countries and Japan
that it will be able to sell a certain amount of credits each year, these observers
say. Still others in Moscow say the treaty would inhibit Russia's industrial
growth.
Russia's latest mixed signals about its Kyoto plans came as the Bush administration
prepared to make its case at the U.N. conference in Milan that its program for
combating global warming, including technological research and voluntary moves
by industry, is a credible effort to deal with climate change.
President Bush has said the Kyoto treaty would severely hurt the U.S. economy.
Instead, he has called on U.S. industry to voluntarily help the nation achieve
an 18% reduction in its greenhouse-gas emissions per unit of gross domestic
product between 2002 and 2012. Unlike the Kyoto Protocol, that target still
would allow total U.S. emissions to increase as the economy expands.
The Bush administration has enlisted industry's help in touting its approach
at the U.N. conference, which runs through Dec. 12, said Dale Heydlauff, a senior
vice president at American Electric Power Co., a big Midwest utility. "The
U.S. intends to be much more assertive about promoting their model," he
said. The administration's hope, Mr. Heydlauff said, is that "developing
countries might view it as a more attractive model than a hard cap."
One of the administration's objections to the Kyoto Protocol is that the mandated
emissions cuts don't apply to developing countries, where emissions are growing
rapidly. Among other topics, the Milan conference is expected to consider whether
to impose even tougher global-warming mandates in the future -- including, perhaps,
mandates on developing countries, too.
Mr. Heydlauff said he and other U.S. executives are scheduled to appear on a
panel in Milan next week to talk about their voluntary efforts to address global
warming. "We're doing it at the request of the White House and the State
Department. They wanted us to showcase our program for the world," he said.
Paula Dobriansky, the Bush administration's undersecretary of state for global
affairs, said the administration hopes to use the U.N. conference -- which won't
be hammering out a formal policy declaration -- to explain the administration's
approach to climate change. The conference is "an opportunity to discuss
in detail the kind of steps that many countries, both developed and developing,
have asked us about -- what we, the U.S., are doing to address climate change,"
she said.
Write to Jeffrey Ball at jeffrey.ball@wsj.com and Jeanne Whalen at jeanne.whalen@wsj.com
Dow Jones re-print
© Dow Jones
Russia Signals Support for
Global Warming Treaty
Government 'Moving Towards Ratification' of Kyoto Treaty Despite Top Aide's
Protest
By Peter Baker
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, December 4, 2003; 2:05 PM
MOSCOW, Dec. 3 -- The Russian government declared Wednesday that it is "moving toward ratification" of the Kyoto treaty on global warming despite opposition by a top aide to President Vladimir Putin, offering environmentalists renewed hope of enacting the landmark pact.
The government's declaration signaled that Russia has not ruled out the international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and is still staking out bargaining positions before deciding whether to join the accord. It contradicted Putin's chief economics adviser, Andrei Illarionov, who predicted Tuesday that Russia would not ratify it.
"There are no decisions about ratification of the Kyoto protocol except that we are moving toward ratification," Mukhamed Tsikanov, deputy minister for economic development and trade, told a hurriedly organized news conference that was called to offset the impression left by the Putin adviser's comments. Tsikanov added that "Russia will ratify the protocol if it is proved that it is in our interest."
Russia has resisted ratifying the treaty while holding out for guarantees that there would be economic benefits for Russia. Ever since the Bush administration abandoned the Kyoto accord, Russia has essentially controlled its fate because to go into effect the pact requires participation of countries accounting for 55 percent of the world's emissions. Without Russia, which produced 17 percent of those emissions in 1990, the treaty's baseline year, the Kyoto accord would die.
Because of a historic quirk in timing, Russia stands to profit from the treaty. The agreement sets the goal of reducing greenhouse emissions from levels of 1990, when the Soviet Union's factories were pumping out pollutants at far higher rates than the economically weaker Russian economy is today.
As a result, Russia could sell its excess pollution quota to other countries trying to meet Kyoto targets and it wants to cut deals with Japan, Canada or European countries before ratifying it.
Putin's economic adviser, Illarionov, told reporters Tuesday that Russia would not ratify it because it would restrict the country's growth. Illarionov is known as an outspoken maverick within the Kremlin who often takes his internal fights public and has long campaigned against Kyoto without killing it. His statements on policy do not always reflect the final positions taken by the Russian government.
Putin has offered conflicting statements on the Kyoto accord. Addressing a Moscow conference on climate change in September, he said Russia "stands for the quickest possible ratification" of Kyoto but then said there were still "difficult and unclear problems." He joked that global warming might be good for frigid Russia.
Supporters of the treaty still believe Putin will embrace the accord and send
it to parliament next year. "I am nearly convinced that Russia will sign
on," Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien told reporters in Ottawa on
Tuesday, according to news accounts. When he met Putin, Chretien said, "I
asked him and he said he had the intention of signing."