President Sarkozy meets with the non-governmental organizations

President Sarkozy had a meeting today at the Elysée to discuss the Copenhagen conference with the main French non-governmental organizations and leading figures engaged in the fight against climate change.

In the presence of M. Jean-Louis Borloo, Ministre d’Etat, Minister for Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Marine Affairs, Bernard Kouchner, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, and Mme Chantal Jouanno, Minister of State responsible for Ecology, the Head of State reaffirmed the need in Copenhagen to come up with a political agreement commensurate with the challenges of climate change and designed to take the form of an international binding agreement as swiftly as possible.

The President welcomed the international groundswell in support of climate action since the publication of the joint Franco-Brazilian position last month. The presence in Copenhagen of virtually all the world’s heads of State provides a historic opportunity to conclude the agreement enabling the average global temperature rise to be limited to 2ºC by 2050.

The Head of State renewed France’s commitment to reduce her CO2 emissions, to which the Grenelle Environment Forum and carbon tax will make a substantial contribution. France has undertaken to do the utmost to ensure that the conditions for a 30% reduction in European Union emissions are fulfilled as soon as possible.

President Sarkozy also reiterated his determination that the Copenhagen agreement provide for the creation of a World Environment Organization (WEO) with a remit to monitor the preparation of the future treaty and check that every country fulfils its commitments. Lastly, for the Head of State, the final Copenhagen agreement will have to include a major funding stream to finance the fight against climate change in the poor countries, with contributions based on an international levy on financial transactions.

President Sarkozy concluded by reiterating that he firmly believed in a regular frank dialogue with civil society. But any dialogue has of necessity to have rules. Consequently, he deemed the recent intrusion of an NGO in the National Assembly a wholly unacceptable initiative.

Q. – Beijing is limiting the growth of its CO2 emissions, but doesn’t envisage reducing them in absolute terms. That’s not going to reassure the US Congress…

THE MINISTER – It’s the first time our Chinese friends have put any figures on their commitments. You have to understand that China’s aim is to lower her carbon intensity. I’ve no doubt that the Chinese government wants to move towards a lower-carbon development model. Their eleventh [five-year] plan, coming to an end soon, shows that they have embarked on this path and the twelfth plan will show this even more. The main thing is for all the countries to say to themselves: we’re all doing our bit.

Q. – What do you think about the US emission reduction targets?

THE MINISTER – You mustn’t overrate the figures the White House has just put forward. They are below what was forecast at the Bali climate conference and below the scientists’ recommendations, i.e. a 25-40% cut in industrialized countries’ emissions. But President Obama also talked about 2030. The United States needs some flexibility to catch up. Does this have to take the form of an adapted figure or extra time? Aside from that, the American President has announced that he will come to the Danish capital on 9 December. The date is odd. The other heads of State and government will be there on 17 and 18 December – among them Nicolas Sarkozy, President Lula and the Chinese Prime Minister, who has confirmed this to me.

Q. – Are you optimistic for the Copenhagen conference?

THE MINISTER – Today, confidence has returned. Copenhagen can and must succeed. We can achieve a specific political agreement, which commits, which contains figures country by country. Four major points will have to figure in it: the countries which were in the Kyoto Protocol remain and make new commitments; the Americans are granted flexibility so that they can catch up; the emerging countries make their emissions curves less steep than their growth curves; finally, financial aid is granted to the most vulnerable countries so they can adapt. When it comes to the practicalities of monitoring each country’s commitments, we’ll very probably need a little more time.

Q. – A political agreement, not a binding treaty?

THE MINISTER – Talking about a treaty isn’t such a good idea. With Kyoto, we see this clearly. While a country like France honours its commitments, a number of others don’t. What matters is for everyone to see just how important it is to move towards a low carbon economy and undertake clear commitments. France, like Europe, can achieve a 30-32% cut by 2020 compared with 1990 levels.

JUSTICE-CLIMATE PLAN

Q. – How does your Justice-Climate plan fit into Copenhagen?

THE MINISTER – To help the most vulnerable countries adapt to global warming, get access to energy, develop renewable energies and fight deforestation, we must guarantee part of the financial aid which will have to go to them. They must have $30-32 billion a year which can come, for example, from a 0.01% levy on financial transactions. We can’t just rely on the carbon market and private money. It isn’t simply a moral issue, it’s in the whole world’s interest.

Source : La Tribune [French]

Discussions focused mainly on the results of the COP15 and the organization of its high-level segment. Emissions-control objectives were announced by several developing countries (Brazil, Indonesia and South Korea, among others), testifying to the desire of all the ministers in attendance to make Copenhagen a success, despite some differences.

French minister Jean-Louis Borloo presented the climate-justice plan and held talks with several partners on the sidelines of the meeting.

source:  French Ministry for Ecology, Energy and Sustainable Development [French]
photo: nagillum

Mr. Borloo gave the following interview to Soazig Quéméner from Le Journal du Dimanche, a french newspaper while conducting intensive international negotiations before COP15. Published on October 31 2009.

Jean-Louis Borloo

So France has a new plan to “Save Copenhagen”…

The plan is something of a dream but it is also real: above all it is a political project. It is time for a revolution in our thinking. When we are speaking of climate negotiations, we cannot offer the same assistance to China and India as we offer to Bangladesh. We are trying to construct a global project which should not be the kind of negotiation which sets countries up as opponents. This of course implies a reduction in greenhouse gases by industrialized countries – with the added difficulty of countries, like for example, the United States, which have not ratified the Kyoto Protocol. We also want a genuine deal with the large emerging nations, China, India and Brazil. They must come up with a coherent plan for controlling their carbon intensity. Apart from that, we are developing a plan, which we call for the moment “climate justice”, for the most vulnerable countries.

“Climate justice”?

We the industrialized countries, who have polluted a great deal, must organize ourselves to finance the development of renewable energies in the most vulnerable countries. These countries represent 1.2 billion people and they are the ones who suffer the most violent consequences of climate change. What with this impact, their economic handicap and their absence from major international negotiations, they suffer a “triple punishment”! France wants to build a road to social and ecological justice. I have met with representatives from the 80 poorest countries of the world. Whereas some of them were completely discouraged and had even considered not  attending Copenhagen, today they have all agreed to go down this road. It is an excellent sign that the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, has been chosen to speak at Copenhagen in the name of all Africans. We are in the process of building truly worldwide solidarity on climate.

In the middle of an economic crisis? The industrialized countries will say that their pockets are empty…

Helping the poor countries will benefit all of humanity. We must not forget that they possess a real potential for development. Moreover, we are not introducing a tax. We are looking for innovative sources of funding, for example on financial transactions. The French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, is heading a group which is examining the mechanisms of that source. This money must be allocated to specific projects such as hydraulic dams, solar generators or wind farms. They will be managed transparently with retroactive supervision so that no-one is discouraged from going ahead.

You produce a new plan one month before Copenhagen!  Won’t France be accused of sabotage?

On the contrary. We want Copenhagen to succeed. For that to happen, we must fight against posturing and misunderstandings. We must propose the most ambitious agreement that we possibly can. An agreement of good faith which allows all parties to emerge as the winners. Twelve years ago, the Kyoto summit was a fabulous step forward, but this was lost in exhausting and useless negotiation and bargaining. A simple, real and detailed agreement, providing a true dynamic, is both necessary and possible. The mechanisms will take perhaps one year to put into place. Mankind can pull itself together and finally show solidarity.

Where did this idea come from ?

It was in Africa, in 2008, that I understood that we should build on the basis of justice and, at the same time, stay very close to grassroots reality. It was when I saw the intensity of deforestation in the Congo Basin, and above all when I realized that this was driven by domestic uses: mothers were making trees disappear! Shortly afterwards, in Cotonou, Benin, I met a young man who was trying to set up a call center which could only operate for three hours each day. The rest of the time, there was no electricity. Yet I am convinced that Africa can become the biggest producer of renewable energy in the world! Of course I discussed this with our President, Nicolas Sarkozy, before I started canvassing the countries concerned. I have had to listen to them, to take their needs into account, in order for this plan to be developed. I have been working on this for two years. We made major progress two weeks ago in Ouagadougou, Burkino Fasso, and this is continuing today on this tour of South-East Asia. The President of France wants to save Copenhagen. After his success in crafting the European agreement, he alone has the capacity and the international weight to do so.

What makes you think you will succeed?

I have met almost everyone. Nobody disputes the basis of our argument. Who, in any case, could possibly oppose it publicly? Even indifference is not an option. Our country’s credibility in this matter has been firmly established since the national “Grenelle” of the environment and the European Energy-Climate Packet. The universal France is back. But when you present a plan like that, you always have doubts. None of this will work unless it brings victory for all of its parties – not for one country, nor for one man.

Translation by Jeremy Mell and Thierry Buttin.
Read the original interview in French on the JDD’s website