Cancún, a victory for Europe

Connie Hedegaard, Guest Writer

Although Christmas and a cold winter are upon us, there is good reason to reflect for a moment about global warming and the recent climate conference in Cancún.

It may seem unreal, as our teeth are chattering in Europe, but 2010 was actually one of the hottest years on record.

The weather-related catastrophes, from fires in Moscow to floods in Pakistan and Venezuela, are forewarnings of things to come, unless we deal with the challenge of climate change.

That is why the package of decisions which came out of the conference in Cancún may well be this year's most important Christ-mas present.

What's in the package? Quite a bit. And Europe can be proud that we have contributed significantly to the content.

The key points of the agreement concluded in Cancún are based on the results we achieved in Copenhagen last year.

That includes the 2C target and the reduction pledges that countries took on in the run-up to Copenhagen. It includes the commitment of developed nations to provide finance for developing countries - US$30 billion in the short term (2010-12) and US$100 billion annually by 2020.

And it includes the rules for transparency - how countries measure and report their emissions.

That last point may sound a bit technical but, in fact, it is very political, as these rules are key to ensuring that countries deliver on their promises.

We also need these rules to be able to assess the impact of climate projects in developing countries that are financed with European tax payers' money.

In Cancún, all countries - except for Bolivia - agreed to what was agreed in Copenhagen.

But Cancún also took new steps. Besides tightened rules on transparency, the agreement contains detailed decisions for improved cooperation on technology between North and South, an agreement on climate adaptation in developing countries and a mechanism to reverse deforestation in the Tropics - substantial decisions that will lead to concrete action; and decisions with a clear European fingerprint.

For example, Andreas Carlgren, the Swedish environment minister, and his colleague from Grenada, were appointed to fine-tune the wording of the agreement's over-arching shared vision.

Along with Algeria, the Spanish state secretary, Teresa Ribera, forged the compromise on adapt-ation. In cooperation with Brazil, Chris Huhne, British secretary of state for energy and climate change, was asked to handle the delicate issue of the future of the Kyoto Protocol and find out how to anchor the reduction pledges from Copenhagen in the new agreement.

And the newly appointed environment minister of France led the consultations on technology.

In other words, Europe played a key role in the political stage of the negotiations. And we have strived to push things forward - at the technical level, with a steady stream of analysis, text input and suggestions, and in relation to the strategy.

And you do not have to take my word for that. At a meeting with the European Union on the last day of negotiations, the Mexican foreign minister, Patricia Espinosa, explicitly said that without the constructive work of Europe it would have been impossible to bring the process back on track.

A key reason why Europe has been able to make its mark on the agreement and help strengthen its ambition, is that, in Cancún, we managed to collaborate constructively and communicate in a clear and coordinated manner. It has long been said that Europe must speak with one voice, but there cannot be only one voice.

Rather, we should decide on the messages together and then communicate them clearly and consistently to the outside world. That is what we did in Cancún. And that is what we should be doing in future to ensure that Europe's word has an influence worthy of the world's largest economy.

Cancún did not solve everything. The reduction commitments are not enough to keep the temperature increase below two degrees centigrade and there are other outstanding issues, such as the legal form of the agreement and how to provide the long-term finance.

But Cancún proved that the multilateral process can deliver results. Without an agreement, the United Nations process would have been in imminent danger. Politicians and the public might very well have lost faith in the process and discarded it - with nothing to put in its place.

Now we have a deal. But there is still much work ahead of us. Both internationally, where we must still deal with the outstanding issues, and domestically where we now have to deliver on what has been decided.

In Europe, we are already working on it. Next year, we present a roadmap for how we can create an intelligent, innovative, low-carbon economy by 2050. We do this for the environment, but we also do it for the sake of competitiveness and energy security.

In a world with ever more people and fewer fossil-energy resources, it goes without saying that the winners will be the ones who are independent, of oscillating oil prices, and who can provide energy efficient and innovative solutions.

If there is any task our European Union should take the time to address, it is the task of getting energy security, economic growth and climate conservation to work in unison.

The very core of our community is to take on the challenges together, with which member states cannot deal on their own. That is why it was so encouraging that Europe acted in a constructive and coordinated way in Cancún, and that is why the agreement in Cancún is a victory.

Not only for the skilful Mexican presidency and for the multilateral process, but certainly also for Europe.

Connie Hedegaard is European Commissioner for Climate Action. business@gleanerjm.com