28 January 2010: Through a joint letter to the UNFCCC, the Spanish Presidency of the Council of Ministers of the EU and the European Commission have formally indicated the support of the EU and its 27 member States for the Copenhagen Accord.
They also submitted for information the EU’s established greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets for 2020, consisting of a unilateral commitment to reduce the EU’s overall emissions by 20% against 1990 levels and a conditional offer to increase this to 30% provided that other major emitters agree to take on their fair share of a global reduction effort. In the letter, the EU reaffirms its commitment to a negotiating process to achieve the strategic objective of limiting the increase in global average temperature to below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. The letter restates the EU’s position that keeping below 2°C requires global emissions to peak by 2020 at the latest, to be reduced to at least 50% below 1990 levels by 2050, and to continue to decline thereafter. To this end, according to the letter, developed countries as a group should reduce their emissions by 25-40% below 1990 levels by 2020, and developing countries should achieve a substantial deviation below the currently predicted emissions growth rate, in the order of 15-30% by 2020. In addition, the letter underlines the full commitment of the EU and its member States to continue negotiations with a view to agreeing as soon as possible, within the UN framework, to a legally binding international agreement for the period starting on 1 January 2013. EU Heads of State and Government will assess the post-Copenhagen situation at an informal meeting of the European Council on 11 February 2010. [EU Presidency Press Release] [EU Press Release]