Away from the theatrics of Copenhagen, the EU quietly leads the way in putting emissions-tackling market structures in placeThe US and
China have stolen the show in Copenhagen, with a very unhappy ending. This is quite understandable: they produce nearly half of global greenhouse gas emissions. But in the midst of this trans-Pacific rift, the EU perspective has received too little attention, as Europeans have sidelined themselves by being unable to speak loudly in one voice. This is regrettable, for two sets of reasons that point respectively to praise and constructive criticism of the EU climate policy.The EU, often maligned on the world stage as a power so soft it is hard to feel it, deserves a high mark on the climate front. The road to Copenhagen was indeed largely paved by the EU, acting within the UN in its most important capacity, that of global normative power. Europe was the first region in the world to write down in its laws the basis of the scientific consensus on climate change tenaciously built over the past 20 years by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The EU acknowledged the need to limit the increase in earth's temperature to 2C, which is now a global reference included in the Copenhagen agreement.Furthermore, without the European commitment taken in 2007 to unilaterally deliver a 20% cut on 1990 emissions by 2020, and possibly 30% if other countries aim for comparable targets, emerging and developing countries would have hardly been seen at all around the Copenhagen table.Finally, the EU leads the way in terms of economic instruments mobilised for mitigation, whether one considers standards and norms, cap-and-trade or carbon taxes. In this respect, the EU has managed to construct the core element of the potential global co-operative effort to curb emissions that will have to be worked out in 2010: the EU's emission trading system (ETS), ie the European carbon market.This market now accounts for two-thirds of all carbon traded worldwi ...
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