WRITTEN QUESTION E-4058/97 by Mirja Ryynänen (ELDR) to the Commission (14 January 1998)

Subject: Ways of using the EU's trade policy to combat environmental pollution

Levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are rising alarmingly, and, over a period of decades, could cause changes, for example, in the direction of marine currents. Such currents in turn have a substantial influence on regional climate.

At Kyoto, an effort is being made to introduce worldwide limits on carbon dioxide emissions by means of a voluntary agreement. However, the Rio Agreement shows that voluntary agreements have not been particularly effective.

1. Has the Commission considered more effective methods of limiting emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, for example trade policy incentives for countries whose carbon dioxide emissions are of an acceptable level?

2. How is the EU taking efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions into account in the preparations for enlargement to the East?

Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission (25 February 1998)

The Commission shares the view that levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere are increasing too rapidly and will have a considerable impact on the planet's climate. This explains why the Community has taken such an active role in the development of a climate change policy within the Community and on the international stage.

The voluntary commitment made at the Rio conference by industrialised countries to return their CO2 emissions to 1990 levels by 2000 has not been as effective as was expected, since a number of industrialised countries are unwilling to apply the necessary policies and take the measures to curb emissions. Fortunately, even though it is not yet possible to predict with certainty the result for the Community, on present trends it will be near to achieving its objective of stabilisation.

Growing realisation that existing commitments were inadequate led to the Berlin mandate in which the parties agreed to negotiate an agreement giving industrialised countries legally binding emission reduction objectives. The result of this negotiation is the Kyoto Protocol which is a watershed because, for the first time, it embodies a legal commitment by industrialised countries to reduce their total emissions of greenhouse gases by around 5% by 2008-2012 compared to 1990. The Community has an emission reduction objective of 8% for this period.

1. The Commission is now preparing a communication setting out a broad strategy which would allow the Community to implement its commitments under the Kyoto protocol. Other industrialised countries also need to set in motion domestic policies and measures to curb their emissions. In this context it would be difficult to envisage giving trade policy incentives to industrialised country parties since they have legal commitments to reduce their emissions. Moreover the protocol contains a number of flexibility provisions, notably emissions trading, which could provide cost-effective trading mechanisms for the industrialised countries. The detailed rules for emissions trading still have to be worked out and the Community will want to ensure that they respect the objectives of the protocol.

However, climate change is a global problem requiring a global response and the developing countries, with emissions rapidly increasing, need to be brought into the process. There are a number of potential incentives in the Kyoto protocol such as the clean development mechanism which could help these countries to achieve sustainable development patterns. The possibility of specific trade policy incentives to encourage emission limitation for developing countries is an issue that requires further evaluation given its implications for existing international trade rules.

2. In the climate negotiations the Community has always tried to encourage associated countries to adopt positions in line with its views. This is reflected in the Kyoto protocol. In many of these countries current emissions are well below 1990 levels and, even with the recovery and restructuring of their economies, are unlikely to return to 1990 levels. Through its co-operation programmes the Community is assisting the associated countries to achieve a more efficient use of energy and to restructure their energy systems and legal frameworks. This assistance will continue to play an important role in curbing greenhouse gas emissions in such countries.