Resolution on the Commission's strategy for The Hague Conference on climate change (COP6)

The European Parliament adopted by 437 voted to 6 with 27 abstentions on the resolution on the Commission's strategy for The Hague Conference on Climate Change (COP-6). The 6th Conference of the Parties (COP-6) to the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change takes place in The Hague from 13 to 24 November. Parliament is calling on all parties to ratify the Kyoto Protocol since, in order for the protocol to enter into force, no fewer than 55 parties, accounting for at least 55% of the 1990 figure for total carbon dioxide emissions are required to have ratified it. Parliament wants a legally binding global emissions ceiling to be agreed at The Hague. It adds that, when the total amount of available emission rights are distributed, it should be made clear that - in the long term - the principle of equal rights per world citizen must apply. As regards the flexible mechanisms - namely emissions trading, the Clean Development Mechanism and joint implementation - these must account for no more than 50% of the difference between the 1990 emissions levels and the Kyoto target. The Clean Development Mechanism should be applied quickly and projects eligible should be based on sustainability, energy efficiency and demand-side management in the fields of energy and transport but should exclude nuclear and large-scale fossil fuel energy sources. Parliament appeals to members of the US Senate and House of Representatives to drop their resistance to the principles agreed in Kyoto and to do justice to their responsibility to combat the greenhouse effect. However it believes the EU should not wait for the USA, but try to reach agreement with other industrialised countries including Japan, the Central and Eastern European countries and Russia. Parliament also wants the EU delegation to the conference to include not just three but ten MEPs.�