Europe to rethink its position after Kyoto 2 rejection

The EU is considering whether there is any point in it being possibly the only industrialised region to commit to a second CO2 reduction commitment period under the Kyoto protocol after several countries said they did not want new Kyoto targets.

Speaking at a climate change conference in Brussels on Tuesday morning, DG Climate director general Jos Delbeke said that the EU had been surprised by Japan and Russia's rejection of Kyoto 2 targets in Cancun, and that it was still "digesting" this new reality.

Although Cancun has left the door open http://www.endseurope.com/25252?referrer=bulletin&DCMP=EMC-ENDS-EUROPE-DAILY to a second commitment period, the prospects of new Kyoto targets now seem very slim. Canada and Australia have also said that they may not commit to new targets after 2012. After Copenhagen http://www.endseurope.com/23050?referrer=bulletin&DCMP=EMC-ENDS-EUROPE-DAILY, Mr Delbeke had already indicated that the EU did not want to find itself isolated among major emitters.

The Brussels event focused on climate policies in the US and EU. Louis Bono of the US Mission to the EU told the audience that the Obama administration was still confident it could use the country's environment agency (EPA) to regulate carbon emissions.

The US government has had to turn to the EPA to cut CO2 after it was forced to abandon its efforts to adopt a cap and trade law http://www.endseurope.com/24449?referrer=bulletin&DCMP=EMC-ENDS-EUROPE-DAILY. But the House of Representatives, which is now under Republican control following elections in November http://www.endseurope.com/24987?referrer=bulletin&DCMP=EMC-ENDS-EUROPE-DAILY, will shortly introduce legislation to prevent the agency from regulating emissions.

Follow-up: Information on climate conference http://www.endseurope.com/docs/110112a.pdf

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