"CLIMATE CHANGE MAKES THE EU RELEVANT TO ITS

UNCLAS HELSINKI 000256 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SENV ENRG TRGY FI SUBJECT: "CLIMATE CHANGE MAKES THE EU RELEVANT TO ITS CITIZENS" - RESULTS FROM CLIMATE CHANGE SEMINAR ¶1. (SBU) Summary: On March 22 Econoff participated in the "Putting A Cost On Carbon ) Where to Post 2012?" Climate Change Seminar at the British Embassy in Helsinki. Though seminar participants often cited the U.S. as dragging its feet on climate change issues a-la-Kyoto, they also positively noted U.S. progress on climate change-mitigating measures including action at the state level and bills that the U.S. Congress is reviewing. The EU,s focus, and perceived leadership, on climate change may make it more relevant to average EU citizens. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) Sponsored by the British Embassy, the Seminar included presentations from Finnish and British government officials, EU Commission representatives, as well as think tank and private industry stakeholders. Several participants stressed that engaging the U.S. and China on climate change issues comes down to the international community emphasizing the strong connection between security of energy supply and climate change. GOF and UK government officials continued to hold up Kyoto, and a binding post-2012 global emissions trading scheme, as the solution to reversing greenhouse gas emissions. Kate Hampton, Service and Policy Manager at London-based Climate Change Capital said EU courage in addressing climate change is causing the U.S., particularly at the state level, to modify its climate change policies. She continued by suggesting that the EU,s focus on climate change makes it more relevant to average EU citizens and that EU leadership on climate change issues is a source of pride for Europeans. ¶3. (SBU) Participants made positive comments about several climate change-mitigating bills under consideration by the 110th Congress. The State of California was highlighted as a strong regional model for the U.S. and EU alike. ¶4. (SBU) Providing the GOF view of the EU's 20 percent renewable energy goal, Taisto Turunen, Director General from the Ministry of Trade and Industry, said Finland sees itself as a "special case deserving special treatment" and hence a lower target when the EU sets its individual country renewable targets. Turunen believes a lower target is supported by Finland,s northern geography, its relatively high use of renewable energy sources already, and its limited ability to drastically increase production from other renewable energy sources such as hydropower. Renewables already account for over 25 percent of Finland,s energy needs. ¶5. (SBU) Ian Kerns, Deputy Director of the Institute of Public Policy Research in London, highlighted the holes in the EU,s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) including weak quotas and the EU's lack of a clear framework for enforcement. He suggested that a change of individual behavior and habits is ultimately needed for lasting reductions of emissions to take place. Kerns concluded by saying that &pop-culture8 attention will likely have a stronger ability to change behavior than politicians and trading schemes. ¶6. (SBU) Though the overall tone of the meeting was quite positive, participants frequently lapsed into blaming the U.S. for issues related to climate change. This was characterized by one participant who vaguely blamed the U.S. for inefficiencies within the EU,s own Emissions Trading Scheme. Econoff took this as an opportunity to correct the record and to publicly defend U.S. leadership on climate change and energy issues, citing several international organizations the U.S. participates in including the Asia Pacific Partnership and the Methane to Markets. Unfortunately, the U.S. continues to be viewed as an easy target on climate change issues. WARE