By HAYLEY MIREK
Published: December 5, 2009
PARIS — The French team of delegates for the upcoming Climate Summit have been busy in the run up to the 16th. In the past month, France has had major meetings with European delegates, India, and Brazil. At the Brazilian summit, President Sarkozy announced his intentions to start the proceedings for the creation of an international organization dedicated solely to environmental issues. Given this announcement, it is little surprise to see this organization featured prominently in the working paper submitted by France and its climate change allies: the United Kingdom, Austria, Croatia, Turkey, and Japan.
Speaking to the New York Times, the French Press Secretary Ashwath Dsouza and Minister of Trade Joost van Dam stressed that, “This new agency is central to our approach.” However, France’s plans do not stop with spearheading this new organization, which if created will be included under the UNFCCC. The country also wishes for a stringent binding resolution that would see 80% reductions in developed country emissions by 2050.
The words the French delegates reiterated over and over again concerning their goal for a UN resolution were “comprehensive” and “ambitious.” Specifically, Mr. van Dam stated, “Whatever framework and rules we decide on must be sufficiently ambitious to tackle the problem; they should be based on an equable sharing of the problem of climate change.” In other words, this is a global problem and the entire world must contribute to solving it.
Yet the French realize the many obstacles that stand in their way of a binding resolution, namely the U.S. and its complete reluctance to accept any binding resolution. Responding to this claim, Mr. Dsouza remarked, “We’re looking for collective action. Which is why we’re setting up a new international organisation. We’ll use that to engage with P5 members and other nations, so we can really tackle climate change.”
The French hope this new organization will be something uncontroversial that all nations will be able to join, without raising a ruckus at home. Furthermore, they view it as essential to ensuring funds are fairly allocated to deserving nations and projects. The organisation will aid investment in low carbon technology, aid the developing world through funds and new technologies and promote overall sustainable development.
The support of and logistics of setting up such an agency are yet to be seen. However, given the binding and indeed ambitious nature of their working paper, it could very well be that the new environmental organization is the only piece of the document that escapes the guillotine of the Security Council.
Hayley Mirek
Zixin Li
Natasha Schou
Tomomi Yoshihama
Toyoki Nakanishi
Clare Sharkey
Cecilia Eklund
Perhaps it is true, the US will never commit to the current negotiation terms. Although, since they do have veto power, any proposals that they do put forward should be taken into account and worked with if the negotiations are going to progress.