Today's Date:

Kjell Larsson, Environment Minister of Sweden, which currently holds the EU Presidency, EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström and Marc Pallemaerts from the Belgian State Secretary’s Office for Energy and Sustainable Development (representing the next EU Presidency) concluded two days of meetings on climate change with members of US Administration, Congress and Non-Governmental Organizations in Washington today. The EU ‘troika’ delegation met with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Christine Todd Whitman, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, and with Senator John Kerry (D-Mass), Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Ct) and Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The EU Presidency and the European Commission issued the following Joint Statement:

‘The European Union today expressed concern and disappointment to the United States Administration about the withdrawal of the US from the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol remains the framework for international efforts to combat climate change. The European Union remains committed to ratifying the Kyoto protocol by 2002 at the latest.

‘Climate change is happening now and is a serious threat to the future of mankind. We are prepared if necessary to go forward without the US. We cannot allow one country to declare as dead the process for addressing this major global issue. However, we still hope to have the United States involved in the Protocol as soon as possible’, said Kjell Larsson, Environment Minister of Sweden.

‘In all countries, climate change will be on top of the political agenda for a long time to come. By choosing not to be part of the process the United States will miss this opportunity. It will not only lose influence over the process, it will not be able to participate in international emissions trading,’ said EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström.’

"The evidence of climate change is based on a broad consensus among the world scientific community. We were happy to note that nobody on the US side questioned the science about climate change. All countries have a responsibility to mitigate the effects of climate change. This is particularly true for the industrialized countries which must take the lead. Per capita the United States CO2 emissions are more than 20 tons, while the average emissions for developed countries is 12 tons, and for developing countries, about 2 tons," said Minister Kjell Larsson.

Combating climate change is not only about cost; it provides an opportunity for new technology and for modernizing our economies. We also know that companies on both sides of the Atlantic want certainty about the rules", Commissioner Wallström said.

Between Friday April 6 and Tuesday April 10, the EU troika (the Swedish EU Presidency, the Commission, and the incoming Belgium Presidency ) will visit Russia, Iran, China and Japan to discuss climate change. Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström will take part in the meetings in China and Japan on 8th and 11th April. Commissioner Wallström continued to Canada this evening for talks with the Canadian Environment Minister.

(Source:Delegation of the European Commission to the US)