DEMARCHE DELIVERED: CLIMATE CHANGE: U.S.

UNCLAS ZAGREB 000811 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SENV ENRG KGHG HR SUBJECT: DEMARCHE DELIVERED: CLIMATE CHANGE: U.S. ENGAGEMENT IN DECEMBER NEGOTIATIONS REF: STATE 119282 ¶1. Econ officer delivered reftel points to Visnja Grgasovic, head of the Department for Atmosphere Protection, and Jasenka Necak, head of the Section for Atmosphere, Sea, and Soil, at the Croatian Ministry of Environmental Protection, Physical Planning and Construction. Ms. Grgasovic and Ms. Necak will represent Croatia at the conference in Poznan. ¶2. Croatia ratified the Kyoto Protocol last year. The government has developed a draft strategy for implementation to 2012 and has begun preparing scenarios to establish a target and strategy for the 2020 timeframe based on EU criteria. Grgasovic said Croatia is prepared to actively participate in a post-Kyoto climate regime, noting, however, that Croatia is not as economically developed as most other Annex B countries. ¶3. Regarding aims for a post-Kyoto regime, Grgasovic said the GOC wants further commitments to be fair and scientifically sound. She said the GOC favors a global effort with differentiation, taking economic growth into account. They would like other countries to be more involved, including the emerging-market countries as well as other higher-emission, lower-GDP countries such as some of the oil-producing states. The GOC also favors a longer commitment period. ¶4. Grgasovic noted that Croatia now negotiates alone, as the Central Group 11 (CG11) has dissolved with the entry of the other ten members into the EU. She said they would seek to re-establish a negotiating group at Poznan and invite countries with similar positions (such as other EU candidate countries) to join. BRADTKE