ΦΙΛΟΙ της ΦΥΣΗΣ | NATUREFRIENDS INTERNATIONAL | Χάρτα για το Κλίμα, 2 NFI-Klimacharta_EN | Page 5

2. Challenges and Demands to the Climate Policy of the Eu-
ropean Union
The first commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol will end in 2012. In light of
state-of-the-art research findings, a follow-up agreement binding under international
law would have to achieve the following:
• Keep average global warming below 2 0 C. 1
• Long-term stabilisation of the global greenhouse gas concentrations at a level
below 400 ppm CO 2 equivalent. A short-term emission maximum between 2015
and 2020 of 475 ppm is acceptable, if it is followed immediately by substantial re-
ductions. 1
• Pass a first milestone in 2050, by bringing global emissions down by 50% as
compared with 1990. 2
• To achieve a sustainable development of emissions, the maximum annual emis-
sion per person must not exceed 2 tonnes of CO 2 equivalent. 1
Against this background International Friends of Nature (IFN) calls upon the member
states of the European Union to strengthen their commitment to the pioneering role
they admittedly wish to play in negotiating a post-Kyoto-agreement. In this context,
they need to attune their political positions to scientific findings rather than to the in-
terests of powerful lobbies. At the forthcoming climate summits in Poznan / PL (2008)
and Copenhagen / DK (2009) they must send an unequivocal signal to the threshold
and developing countries by committing themselves to substantial reductions in par-
allel with submitting offers to fund mitigation and adaptation measures to the coun-
tries in the southern hemisphere. 3 This attitude would help to pressure the United
States to take a constructive part in the negotiations on a post-2012 climate agree-
ment.
As Friends of Nature see it, a pioneering role of the EU in the climate-policy area
would have to encompass the following key points:
• An explicit commitment to the 2 0 C limit.
• Commitments on the part of the above-average emitters to reduce emissions by
30% by the year 2020, and by 80% by the year 2050 as compared with 1990.
• Compliance with the prevailing reduction commitments until the completion of the
first Kyoto-period in 2012.
• Ongoing improvement of the EU Emission Trading System (EU-ETS), with a view
to ensuring fair distribution, consistent quality control and auctioning of all emis-
1
UNDP (2007): Human Development Report 2007/2008: Fighting climate change: Human solidarity in a di-
vided world.
2
Meinshausen, Malte (2006). Eine kurze Anmerkung zu 2°C-Trajektorien. In: Ott, Herrmenn E. (2008). Wege
aus der Klimafalle: Neue Ziele, neue Allianzen, neue Technologien - was eine zukünftige Klimapolitik leisten
muss. München: oekom.
3
Mitigation stands for lessening the degree of climate change; adaptation signifies the adjustment to climate
change.
5