Michael de Laine

Sweden’s Environment Minister sees greater prospects of COP15 climate agreement after US visit

By Michael de Laine, Copenhagen, 22 March 2009

Obama’s flying start in the climate debate strengthens the prospects that a long-term global climate agreement will be signed in Copenhagen in December, Sweden’s Environment Minister said last week.

Following a two-day trip to Washington, Sweden’s Minister of the Environment, Andreas Carlgren, said his impression is that US President Barack Obama’s flying start in the climate debate strengthens the prospects that a long-term global climate agreement will be signed at the United Nations’ COP15 climate summit in Copenhagen in December.

Carlgren was accompanied by Martin Bursik, the Minister for the Environment of the Czech Republic, which currently holds the rotating Presidency of the European Union (EU), and EU environment commissioner Stavros Dimas.

They met the new US administration and central players in climate and energy, including Carol Bowner, the Assistant to the US President for Energy and Climate Change, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s climate envoy, Todd Stern, and John Kerry, who chairs the US Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee.

The EU representatives discussed the US government’s plans for a national trading system for emissions rights (ETS), Obama’s plans for greater energy efficiency and reduced emissions from the transport sector.

“We received clear and positive signals on the USA’s willingness to contribute to reaching a new climate agreement in Copenhagen,” Carlgren said. “As the largest industrialised country, their participation is vital for getting countries such as Japan, China and India to back new targets for emission cuts.”

Sweden’s Minister of the Environment added, “A trading system that can be tied to the EU’s ETS in the long term will be an important factor for mobilising the private sector around the world in efforts to reduce emissions. The US Congress can decide on a cap-and-trade ETS during the year, and it would be very valuable for being able to create a global CO2 market.”

The discussions were described as constructive by all parties. They showed that the US and the EU can do much together on the basis of the US administration’s plans and the EU’s climate and energy initiatives.

“Although the new administration has had a flying start with its climate and energy policy, more information will be needed from them during the year if the climate negotiations are to be finalised,” Carlgren said. “We don’t yet know what emissions targets the US will decide on for the period to 2020 and the administration must also give its view of how the poorest countries will be financed in their fight to adapt to climate change. We return with great hopes, but we can also see that much work remains to be done.”

Carlgren was also a keynote speaker at a climate seminar arranged by the Pew Institute on Global Climate Change.