Tiempo Climate Newswatch, Adaptation - An Issue for the German Presidency of the European Union

	Sven Harmeling discusses the lead that Germany must take on adaptation to climate change through its year of Presidency of the European Union and the Group of Eight.
The author is senior advisor on climate and development with Germanwatch.

On January 1st 2007, the German government will take over the Presidencies of the European Union (EU) and the Group of Eight (G8).

After months of rumours and informal information, it is now clear that climate change will play an important role within the German Presidencies, with distinct focal areas. Of importance for the whole process is that the head of government, the German chancellor Angela Merkel from the conservative party, has underlined the importance for significant progress on the international political discussion in the year 2007.

Climate change steps out of the corner of being perceived as just an environment issue. This offers the opportunity to highlight the development aspects of climate change within the political debate, although this has not been announced as being a major focus in the Presidencies.

The EU is the most important donor in the international development arena. There is no doubt that the policies and practical actions of the EU and its member states that impact on development-related issues are very important and can do either good or harm. German development non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are already addressing the political relevance of this and will do so with increased efforts in the context of the German EU Presidency.

As part of an EU-funded project, the Association of German Development NGOs, VENRO, organized a workshop at the end of October 2006 to work out a manifesto for the German government to address in its responsibility as chair of the EU. VENRO's member organizations chose to focus their attention, within this context, on development cooperation with the countries and stakeholders of Sub-Saharan Africa. The project is called Europe's Policies - Africa Perspectives. The manifesto serves as civil society's development policy demands to the German government in their year of Presidency and is titled Development Policy Manifesto for the German EU Presidency 2007, worked out jointly by Africans and Germans. Of the 60 participants at the October workshop 25 were from African partner organizations, a fact which was appreciated very much by the participants since it was more than just symbolic participation by African organizations.

Europe's Policies - Africa Perspectives: workshop participants

The manifesto was handed over to the German Federal Minister on Economic Cooperation and Development, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, at a meeting on December 6th 2006 in Berlin.

The document consists of seven thematic chapters, of which one is on adaptation to climate change. Another chapter is closely, but not only, linked to another climate change issue, that is, renewable energies. The fact that adaptation to climate change is treated as a separate chapter is of importance since, to date, the majority of German development NGOs have not paid much attention to this issue. Discussions about climate change have always focused on renewable energies and emission reductions. This is, of course, an absolutely indispensable part of the debate but is not the only aspect of the issue. Fortunately, this is changing more and more.

A working group of experts from different organizations in Germany and from some of the Sub-Saharan nations, supported by colleagues from the United Kingdom, worked out four demands related to EU policies on climate change. These four demands were agreed to by all of the participants of the workshop and were included in the manifesto. The four demands are:

ensure consistency with the objective of avoiding dangerous climate change in all EU actions;
increase funds available for adaptation to climate change;
enhance the support of community-led adaptation processes; and,
ensure a comprehensive review and follow-up of the EU Action Plan on Climate Change in the context of development cooperation.

Details and background to these four demands and the motivation as to why the participants of the workshop chose to focus on them is now discussed.

Ensure consistency with the objective of avoiding dangerous climate change in all EU actions

"The EU and the German Presidency should ensure that all EU policy measures and discussion processes linked to the issue of climate change must be consistent with the overarching objective the EU Council has agreed on: to limit global warming to below two degrees and prevent dangerous climate change, which requires the EU and other industrialized countries to reduce emissions by at least 80 per cent by 2050. We demand consistency in policy fields such as energy security, in foreign policy or trade and in investment negotiations."

Development Policy Manifesto for the German EU Presidency 2007

The EU is engaged in a number of policy areas which, potentially, may have severe implications for long-term action to avoid dangerous climate change. Although the EU Council of heads of states has agreed that the EU's climate policy should be guided by the target to limit global warming to below two degrees Celsius by the end of the century compared to pre-industrial levels, reality shows that this does not automatically imply that all EU policies are designed in coherence with this objective.

During the EU Council meeting planned for March 2007, an Action Plan for European Energy Policy integrating all the different energy policy discussions will be agreed on. The VENRO demands underline the need for consistency with the two degrees global warming limit and further point to the responsibility of the EU to set the path for significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in the long term.

Increase funds available for adaptation to climate change

"According to the polluter pays principle, the EU should seek for implementation of innovative suggestions to scale up adaptation financing for African countries, e.g. the use of auction proceeds in the context of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, the extension of the levy basis for the UN Adaptation Fund to all flexible mechanisms in the Kyoto Protocol, and the implementation of an aviation tax which eventually should be transferred to aviation fuel itself."

Development Policy Manifesto for the German EU Presidency 2007

There is no doubt that the currently available funds for adaptation to climate change in developing countries are far below what is needed. The Adaptation Fund as the basic instrument for adaptation financing under the Kyoto Protocol is estimated to generate, after it becomes fully operational, funds in the order of US$250 million until 2012, through a levy on Clean Development Mechanism transactions. The Special Climate Change Fund and the Least Developed Countries Fund under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change are fed by voluntary contributions of Annex I countries, the richer nations, but at present stand only at about US$30 million each.

Although there is still a lot of uncertainty in determining the costs of adaptation (not surprisingly due to the complex nature of climate change), recent estimations are much higher than the amount of funds presently being in sight. According to the World Bank report Clean Energy and Development: Towards an Investment Framework, about 20 per cent of investments of Official Development Assistance are sensitive towards climate change, and adapting these measures to climate change is estimated to require US$10 to 40 billion annually.

Even if we look only at the costs for those measures that some Least Developed Countries identified as priority actions in their National Adaptation Programmes of Action, these make up some US$20 million as, for example, in the case of Malawi.

Due to the current significant lack in funds, and also in order to implement the "polluter pays" principle, the EU and its member states must increase efforts to develop innovative financing mechanisms that increase adaptation funding and make it more independent from the voluntary contributions of Annex I countries. There is no doubt that this issue will also play a crucial role in post-2012 negotiations.

Discussion about these instruments is also linked to EU internal climate policy instruments, especially the Emissions Trading Scheme. Proceeds from auctioning certificates could generate a substantial amount of money while putting the "polluter pays" principle into practice. A number of German environment NGOs demanded to auction around 465 million certificates (the exact number is still being discussed) in the second commitment period of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (2008-2012); one half would be used for adaptation financing in developing countries and the other half for energy efficiency measures in Germany. Assuming a (low) price of ten Euro per tonne, almost five billion Euro could be generated. At present, however, it seems as if the German government will decide against auctioning the certificates, and will postpone that to the third commitment period beyond 2012, despite the arguments of many NGOs and several economic institutes in favour of auctioning.

The whole discussion will be repeated during the next months, since the inclusion of aviation into EU emissions trading (from 2012 on) will be debated throughout the year 2007, with an EU directive proposal to be released. Auctioning is a serious element of this discussion. How additional funding - if, for example, achieved through auctioning in the Emissions Trading Scheme or some other way - will be used to feed the Adaptation Fund or other instruments is another part of the debate.

Enhance the support of community-led adaptation processes

"The EU and African governments must enhance community-led adaptation. This requires financing for the scaling-up of good practice examples of community-led adaptation, support to spread climate-related information in vulnerable local communities, and capacity building to assist civil society in the formulation of National Adaptation Programmes of Action. Women, as important actors should adequately participate in capacity building measures."

Development Policy Manifesto for the German EU Presidency 2007

Beyond high-level policies, the workshop group of experts also decided to point to needs in the practical implementation of adaptation to climate change in Africa. The relevance of community-led adaptation was underlined. This demand was also formulated against the background that high-level policy tends to concentrate on large-scale solutions, which also applies to the field of adaptation. But the sections of society which must be empowered immediately are those who are first and hardest hit by today's and the future consequences of climate change. The manifesto demands, therefore, that special attention be paid to the needs, as well as the capacities to adapt, of local communities. Also, as for example, the experience from Benin shows, civil society needs appropriate assistance and capacity building to engage adequately in the National Adaptation Programme of Action process. The workshop group identified common responsibilities for the EU's development cooperation and for the African governments.

Ensure a comprehensive review and follow-up of the EU Action Plan on Climate Change in the context of development cooperation

"This is scheduled for 2007 and should: actively include civil society in Africa and the EU and provide appropriate funding for this process; address all elements in a transparent and comprehensive manner; reflect recent scientific results indicating an increasing "sense of urgency" to take commensurate action on climate change; and, include concrete funding assessments and provision of financial means to implement the actions needed."

Development Policy Manifesto for the German EU Presidency 2007

In the context of development cooperation, the EU Action Plan on Climate Change is an important framework for climate change issues, especially adaptation. It was adopted in November 2004 by the Council General Affairs and External Relations of the European Union and addresses activities in four areas:

raising the policy profile of climate change;
support for adaptation;
support for mitigation and low greenhouse gas development paths; and,
capacity development.

A review of the status report, which analyses the achievements and actions taken so far by the European Commission, the Member States and partner countries, was scheduled (at the time of writing) for the end of 2006. With this scheduled activity in mind, the working group of the manifesto demanded a comprehensive review and follow-up of the EU Action Plan on Climate Change.

Unfortunately, according to information received in early December 2006, further delay in this EU process is expected. Active work on the status report will not begin before January 2007, and the preparation by consultants, which includes country visits, will probably take at least four months. The review and follow-up of the EU Action Plan on Climate Change will therefore, unlikely be undertaken through the term of the German EU Presidency. This will not, however, prevent German and other NGOs from lobbying for this demand in the following EU Presidency of 2008, which will be held by Portugal.

Conclusions

Working out the manifesto with African and German NGOs together was a very useful and extremely worthwhile undertaking. The adaptation aspect of climate change has become more prominent for many through the manifesto workshop and the outcomes of the working group. Whether or not political decision-makers take up the demands made depends on many factors. German development NGOs have to do their share through actively engaging and lobbying throughout the months to come.

The German development minister explicitly underlined the need for increased adaptation financing at the moment she received the manifesto, and identified this as one task of the German EU Presidency. Which particular instruments her Ministry will push for remain to be seen. This is only one issue where active lobbying is needed but it is an important one.

Further information

Sven Harmeling, Germanwatch e.V., Büro Bonn, Dr. Werner-Schuster-Haus, Kaiserstrasse 201, D-53113 Bonn, Germany. Fax: +49-228-6049219. Email: harmeling@germanwatch.org. Web: www.germanwatch.org/klima.

Tiempo Climate Newswatch

Adaptation - An Issue for the German Presidency of the European Union

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About Newswatch

Ensure consistency with the objective of avoiding dangerous climate change in all EU actions

Increase funds available for adaptation to climate change

Enhance the support of community-led adaptation processes

Ensure a comprehensive review and follow-up of the EU Action Plan on Climate Change in the context of development cooperation

Conclusions

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