Climate Change

Japanese delegates informed the chairman of a special working group at the ongoing U.N. climate change conference that it would not accept the draft political agreement formally presented by the chairman.

"This draft agreement cannot be called fair, as it lacks balance between developed and developing countries," Japanese representatives stated.

At the opening of the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, the Chairman of the European People’s Party (EPP) Joseph Daul MEP, reaffirmed his group's objective: to limit the rise of the average annual global temperature to 2° above pre-industrial levels  - the so called 2°C Objective. The EPP also supports the establishment of binding targets for reductions of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in industrialised countries - with similar commitments for emerging economies - by 30% compared to 1990 by the year 2020.

Environmental concerns pervade every area of political policy these days, and nowhere is this more true than in those areas of governance that are concerned with trans-national issues.

The centre-right in Europe face “a moment of truth” in relation to climate policy ahead of this week's Council summit, according to environmental critics.

Global governments, including those of the EU, must “rethink development policy in its entirety” if any real change in the developing world is going to come about in the future.

According to Rajendra Pachauri, 2007 Nobel Laureate and Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) global powers “cannot continue on current development policies as we now understand them” if any real change is to come about for those currently living in extreme poverty.