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COP20: Minimalistic Lima deal leaves 'many stumbling blocks on way to Paris'

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lima-talksEuropean diplomacy faces an unprecedented challenge after Lima and should work on building bridges between the developed and developing countries, said European Parliament Delegation Chairman Giovanni La Via and Vice Chair Jo Leinen. UNFCCC climate talks came to an end in Lima, Peru, leaving open the most difficult questions for Paris, in particular on climate mitigation, adaptation and finance.

“The agreement reached today represents the lowest common denominator, but it is important to keep the process going in order to reach a global agreement in Paris,” said La Via (EPP, IT).

“The most problematic question, climate finance, will remain open in 2015. While it is clear that developed parties want to act on a voluntary basis, developing countries want higher financial commitments before taking themselves the necessary steps on reducing their emissions,” he added.

“We will have to continue to work from tomorrow morning. This is an unprecedented challenge for European diplomacy. We have two crucial steps in between, with the March and June UNFCCC meetings. We can’t afford to leave all the open questions to Paris, or it will be very difficult to deliver” he concluded.

Jo Leinen: 'The European Union will have to be a bridge builder'

“Despite some progress in Lima, there are still many stumbling blocks on the way. The 2015 climate summit in Paris will be a test case for the EU climate diplomacy,” said Leinen (S&D, DE).

“The European Union will have to be a bridge builder between developing countries on one side, and developed countries on the other. The European Union has to look for compromises to overcome the lack of trust between the two groups, whether it is on climate change mitigation, the support for adaptation, or the overall financing of climate policy”.

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“After the Copenhagen fiasco, we cannot afford a second breakdown. Without a climate deal in Paris in 2015, Humankind runs the risk to lose the race against time to stabilize our climate and limit the rise of temperatures to below 2 degrees,” he concluded.

More information

Profile: Giovanni La Via (EPP, IT)
Profile: Jo Leinen (S&D, DE)
Audiovisual website

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