The EU Position Towards Copenhagen and the Search for Emission Distribution Principles

This paper investigates which distributional criteria have been used and are proposed by the European Union in order to determine the emission reduction commitments for developed countries after 2012. It first examines the internal European climate policy, and explains how the overall target of minus 20% in 2020 has been implemented in binding EU laws, among which an effort sharing decision determining emission reduction commitments for the 27 Member States. Secondly, the paper examines the EU position towards the UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol negotiations in Copenhagen in December 2009. From this, it is questioned why the EU proposes another set of criteria for the determination of emission reduction commitments on the international level compared to such determination among EU member states. In addition, the paper investigates which role is being given by the EU institutions to the so-called per capita criterion, which is a very straightforward (but not uncontested) criterion for determining emission reduction commitments through a contraction and convergence approach. It shows that the EU refers to this approach in a political way, meaning that the Council refers to a possible contraction and convergence on the long run based on per capita emissions, but that for the short time a different approach on the basis of a basket of criteria is proposed – which is different from the criteria used within the EU. Furthermore, the relationship between on the one hand the determination of criteria for emission reduction targets and on the other hand the emissions trading possibility for states is emphasized. The ample supply of hot air credits shows that the setting of emissions reductions commitments cannot be done without taking such effects into account. It is not excluded that the adopted EU laws with regard to climate change, especially the emission reduction target and the approach towards the transfer of surpluses should be amended, in order to adapt the EU laws to the international approach that possibly will be adopted with respect to how to deal with the hot air surpluses