Washington climate conference: Call to Obama to lead from the front

The three-day Climate Solutions Conference held in Washington DC from January 28-30 called for urgent global actions to help resolve climate crisis.
The conference, joined by over 2,000 scientists, academics, climate practitioners and policymakers, was opened by former US energy secretary Bill Richardson. He asked US President Barack Obama to lead from the front in the global fight against climate change.
The moot, organised by the US Council for Science and Environment, was addressed by former environment minister of the UK Lord John Gummer. He called for ensuring social justice in the climate solutions while French President's climate negotiation advisor Maria-Helene Aubert underscored the need for striking a fair, ambitious and equitable climate agreement in 2015 in Paris.
The forthcoming climate summit in September in New York, called by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, is expected to  mobilise global political leadership in reaching consensus on robust climate finance and new climate deal.
In fact, the global climate negotiation takes a new turn in 2014 with the European Commission's decision to propose a binding target to reduce carbon emissions 40 per cent by 2030 from the 1990 level paving the way for a new climate pact in 2015 in Paris.
The EU decision has been welcomed by UN climate chief Christiana Figueres saying it meant the EU was 'on track. She said on Twitter it was a 'positive signal for meaningful 2015 agreement.'
The EU's announcement marked the start of an internal process for member-states to work out its energy and climate strategy for 2030 and beyond. But it also sent important signals to a global audience, keen to see how far the self-anointed 'leaders of climate ambition' would go to live up to that reputation.
EU climate chief Connie Hedegaard hailed 40 per cent cut as 'ambitious'. Her team talked about the renewables target of 27 per cent, pointing to the inclusion of the words 'at least' as evidence the bloc could go further given the right conditions. But a 40 per cent target was 'welcome' but it is far lower than many in the Least Developed Countries (LDC) community had hoped for.
The LDCs have expected from the EU much steeper targets like 45 per cent by 2020 and 65 per cent by 2030 from 1990 level. The EU and other industrialised countries should now make more efforts to raise their ambitions to help reach a new legally binding, robust, fair and equitable climate pact in Paris in 2015.
The EU proposals were described as 'disappointing' by Olai Uludong, the lead negotiator from the Alliance of Small Island States, once a key ally of the EU at the UN climate talks. He said: "If this is accepted as a starting point for tackling the climate crisis then we certainly have a lot of work to do to ensure the world reaches an agreement by 2015 that is commensurate with the scale of the challenge we face."
What's clear from all sides of the debate is that this is just the start of a process that will last over a year and have to endure EU Parliament elections and a change of EU Commissioners. In a sign of battles to come, Konrad Szymanski of Poland said the 40 per cent target was 'at best premature'. He added that a 27 per cent target for renewables 'does not take into account the electricity price impact of this policy.'
An early test of the European resolve will come in March, when European leaders meet for a 'council' and the UN convenes in Bonn to start drafting the text for Paris. Hæge Fjellheim, a senior analyst at Thomson Reuters Point Carbon, predicts 'an exchange of views' rather than anything concrete at the EU's March summit, stressing how hard it could be to get all 28 member states to agree on 40 per cent.
EU President Barroso gave the 40 per cent target a hard sell at the press conference, at one point appearing to suggest that this was the bloc's official offer for the UN's 2015 climate deal. The Commission sees no merit in proposing a higher 'conditional target' ahead of the international negotiations.
But seasoned observers of the UN talks say a rigid 40 per cent goal won't wash, because it is well below the 55 per cent trajectory needed to prevent warming of above 2C. It's also well below what the EU's own Impact Assessment says it's capable of, a fact that will not go unnoticed in Washington or Beijing. UK energy and climate chief Ed Davey told reporters Europe 'must be ready to adopt a 50 per cent target' for an ambitious global climate deal to come off in 2015.
That's a view shared by Greenpeace UK's Political Director Ruth Davis, who says EU negotiators will need a mandate in Paris compatible with 2C.
 Nick Mabey from Environmental Consultants E3G says France, Germany and the UK are likely to push for more flexibility from the EU when it comes to UN talks in 2015. But he warns the bloc will now need to start 'rebuilding its influence' after offering renewable energy goals that are now lower than the USA or China. A weak or irrelevant EU is bad news for countries who want to see a tight 'legally binding' agreement in Paris, something leaders in Beijing and Washington appear keen to avoid.
The stakes are high, not just for the long-term prospects of climate change, but also for global business investments in the coming decade. With energy demand soaring, critical decisions need to be made this decade. After the announcement heavy emitting industries represented by Business Europe grumbled of "investment leakage" from the EU, while leading power plant investors like Siemens and Alstom said the 27 per cent renewables target was too low to offer policy certainty.
Leading climate economist Lord Stern says the clarity over the pace of decarbonisation remains unclear, suggesting 'billions of euros of private investment' are at stake. "A strong emissions reduction target would also mean that the European Union can exert leadership in the international negotiations over a new climate treaty to be signed in Paris in 2015," he said in a statement. What's clear is that the EU has made the first move in a great game that leads to Paris in December 2015. Some of its cards are now on the table; few believe it has many Aces up its sleeve.
"I think the thing to stress more than anything else is that this is not a decision that can be taken in isolation by the European Commission," says Davis. "This is part of an ongoing negotiation towards a global goal which the EU claims it is absolutely committed.
"The question has got to be what are you going to do in that negotiation? It's not just a question of what have you decided to do on the back of what is essentially infighting and squabbling from a set of Commissioners who are more interested in what's going to be written on their political epitaphs than how the European climate policy pans out."
The EU emission reduction target set at 40 per cent for 2030 from the 1990 level is a welcome decision though not sufficient to help avert the climate crisis the earth is facing. This EU target for 2030 is pretty low given the progress Europe has already made in terms of achieving target much ahead of scheduled time. The EU could have raised further its emission reduction ambition to force other industrialised countries to cutback their carbon emissions. This target is slightly higher than business as usual but far shorter than the science requires.
The LDCs have expected from the EU much steeper targets like 45 per cent by 2020 and 65 per cent by 2030 from 1990 level. The EU and other industrialised countries should now make more efforts to raise their ambitions to help reach a new legally binding, robust, fair and equitable climate pact in Paris in 2015. The low mitigation ambition means more vulnerabilities for Bangladesh and other LDCs means more adaptation demand for LDCs, more cost of adaptation, more finance and technology requirements for the LDCs which is lacking right now. Adaptation has a limit also.
However, the EU has to be commended for its emission reduction target and it is time for the EU to lead from the front in the global effort to cutback greenhouse gas emissions fast to stop adverse impacts of runaway climate change already felt in many LDCs including Bangladesh and other vulnerable developing countries.
The writer is a climate negotiator               of LDCs, a member of UN             Adaptation Committee, and      Chairman of FEJB & APFEJ.               [email protected]