Paris, December 4, 2009

The President of the Republic welcomes with a great deal of satisfaction the announcement by President Obama that he will attend the Copenhagen Summit on December 18. He is delighted by this decision which demonstrates the importance the United States attaches to the success of this Climate Conference.

The President of the Republic spoke with President Obama at the beginning of the week and hopes, more than ever, that all leaders will attend the Copenhagen Summit, so that the ambitious commitments needed to protect the planet and future generations can be made together.

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]