The United Nations secretary-general has called on European Union leaders to set an example and agree on an ambitious 2030 target at a Council Summit in June.
Ban Ki-moon wants them to take the decision so the package can be taken to a UN conference in Lima three months later, and shape a global, legally-binding treaty by the end of 2015.
“Yesterday I told President Barroso and President van Rompuy that you must do it [agree a climate package] during the June summit meeting,” Mr Ban said at a Brussels conference.
“Lead by example and bring your ambitious target to the UN summit meeting in September.
“I hope that you will press your leaders of each and every respective country.”
Reporting on the developments EU news website EurActiv said the EU executive had proposed a 40 per cent cut in greenhouse gas pollution and an aspirational 27 per cent market share for renewable energies to be achieved by the end of the next decade.
Mr Ban said he strongly supported the EU aims.
EurActiv reports that under pressure from Poland and other east European states, the bloc’s heads of state failed to agree the package at a Council meeting last month, setting an October deadline for reaching consensus instead.
Mr Ban blamed “political situations like the Ukraine, and the EU’s dependency on gas and oil energy,” for the impasse.
If the EU brings no pledges to the UNFCCC conference in Lima, reciprocal concessions from other UN states are unlikely.
EurActiv reports that, in turn could jeapordise chances of a post-Kyoto Protocol deal at the Paris Conference of Parties in December 2015, and signal geopolitical paralysis in the face of a rapidly warming planet.
Global emissions today are already 60 per cent higher than when the first Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report was produced in 1990.
Earlier this week, the IPCC’s 5th Assessment report concluded that climate change had already begun and posed an “unequivocal” and “unprecedented” threat to biodiversity, food and water supplies, and human security.
The sense of urgency from the UN secretary-general’s office was palpable.
“The foundations for this new agreement must be firmly in place by the time that the parties meet in P
aris,” Mr Ban said.
“I have been urging member states that by the time we meet in Lima, we must have a draft text that will be the basis for discussion over the coming year.”
“Europe’s leadership is essential,” he continued.
“The EU is one big locomotive with a strong and most powerful engine.
“There are some countries reluctant to lead by example, so pull these countries from ahead, and push from behind with your engines.
“
You can move this climate change process much faster, Mr Ban added.”
Lies Craeysnest, a policy advisor for Oxfam, said Mr Ban’s real message had been aimed at EU businesses and states that were trying to delay climate action.
“At the June summit, EU leaders need to stop dithering and unequivocally signal that ambitious and comprehensive EU climate action will no longer be held hostage to short term narrow-minded interests,” she told EurAc
