The European Council, gathering the Heads of State and government of the EU, endorsed the EU position for the Durban Climate Change Conference, confirming the EU's openness to a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol, and made recommendations for the G20 meeting in Cannes, France, including on climate finance.
23 October 2011: The European Council, gathering the Heads of State and government of the EU, has endorsed the EU position for the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which will take place in Durban, South Africa, at the end of 2011, and for the upcoming G20 meeting in Cannes, France.
On Durban, the European Council emphasized the need to agree on a process towards a comprehensive legally-binding framework and a clear time line, ensuring global participation, including from major economies, confirming the openness of the EU to a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol as part of a transition to such a framework.
On the G20, the European Council welcomed the ongoing work of the High-level Panel on Global Sustainability to find new effective ways to promote global sustainable development. It stressed that the Cannes Summit should achieve real progress on: promoting global recovery and sustainable and inclusive growth by supporting an active World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiating agenda, including for least developed countries (LDCs), and by fully implementing the G20 Development Agenda through concrete measures; enhancing the social dimension of globalization; advancing international trade liberalization and resisting protectionism in particular by agreeing a credible plan as a basis for concluding the Doha Development round and considering innovative approaches to strengthen the multilateral trading system; and combating climate change, in particular by mobilizing sources for climate change finance. [European Council Conclusions]