News and analysis out of the climate talks in Paris is on full blast until 12 December when a new global agreement is due. As I listen to the speeches and wade through my COP21 Twitter feed, I’m trying to stay optimistic that leaders will agree to the aggressive reforms the world needs and that we’ve called for at Eurometaux.
With a draft text now on the table, talks still need to achieve three things to be a full success for European industry:
- Legally-binding pledges to reduce CO2 emissions, from developed, emerging and developing countries.
- Supported by a common long-term goal, which puts all countries on the same path towards 2050. We don’t want to keep seeing Europe going it alone.
- This should also include a mechanism for regular updates to national pledges, which takes into account innovation and breakthrough technologies
- Commitments are important, but we need to make sure that they are properly implemented by all countries.
- To do that, we need to be able to compare the different pledges. That will require robust standards and criteria, which need to be developed in a transparent way.
- We have an Emissions Trading System in place in Europe. Other countries also need to move forward to put in place the right carbon pricing schemes, and this should be encouraged in Paris.
- Once this is done, linkages amongst different systems need to be intensified and the comparability of the efforts needs to be measurable.
If COP 21 can reach agreement on these three points, then we will have a much better chance of getting towards 2°C. Not only that, we’ll also be setting the groundwork for European manufacturers to retain their competitiveness.
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