Over the final 24 hours of the ministerial meeting in Åre, the environment ministers focused on issues in preparation for the climate change negotiations in the autumn. It is now less than five months until the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, where a new agreement will be reached. The EU plays a leading role in the international negotiations and is keen to reach an ambitious climate change agreement in December.

The chairs of the two advisory groups for the UN climate change negotiations, Michael Zammit Cutajar and John Ashe, presented their view of the current situation in the talks and what was needed in order to reach a successful conclusion in Copenhagen. The view was that the negotiations are moving far too slowly, but that there are also negotiations underway in parallel processes, such as in the G8, a group made up of eight large industrialised economies, the Major Economies Forum (MEF), which gathers both industrialised countries and rapidly growing economies such as China and India, and bilateral meetings that can boost the negotiation process.

Denmark’s Minister for the Climate and Energy Connie Hedegaard reported during the meeting from the Greenland Dialogue, an informal network of environment ministers from all over the world, and Italy’s Environment Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo reported from the G8 and MEF.

In the subsequent discussion, it was confirmed the two-degree target is significant and gives new momentum ahead of the continued negotiations in the autumn. The two-degree target, which the MEF countries supported at the beginning of July, means that the global temperature may increase by a maximum of two degrees compared with pre-industrial levels. The G8 countries supported a 50 per cent reduction in global emissions and an 80 per cent reduction on the part of industrialised countries. The countries of the G8 and MEF are together responsible for around 80 per cent of the world's emissions.

In the discussion, the EU’s trendsetting role in reaching successful conclusions at the G8 and MEF was emphasised, and strong support was given for continued clear EU leadership. The EU is a unique negotiating machine, with its 27 countries all with different skills and contacts.
“The EU has taken the lead by presenting the most ambitious goal that any group of countries has established. From now until Copenhagen, we will take the lead to speed up the negotiations. Other countries need to follow the EU’s example and do more. The gap between what science demands and the offers that are on the table is far too wide”, said Andreas Carlgren, continuing:
“The EU countries will use all our contacts in order to work together to increase the possibilities of reaching an ambitious climate change agreement with sufficient global emissions reductions and financing. We need clear reductions in emissions, both from industrialised countries and rapidly growing economies.”

The discussions also touched on financing and comparable measures. Commissioner Stavros Dimas presented a report on financing.
"There is a significant short-term need to help developing countries with strategies for development with reduced emissions, and measures for adaptation to a changing climate", said Commissioner Dimas.

Commissioner Dimas also presented a report on comparable measures and the process for the EU's ‘scaling up’ to 30 per cent if a sufficiently ambitious agreement is reached in Copenhagen. The heads of state and government have decided that the EU will contribute with a 30 per cent reduction in emissions by 2020, compared with 1990 levels, if other industrialised countries make comparable commitments and the rapidly growing economies commit to significant measures.
“Our offer is not unconditional. We will use the increase from 20 to 30 per cent as a lever to gain adequate offers from other countries”, commented Andreas Carlgren.