What we all want to know here: numbers and targets, which show how much Annex I countries want to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. So, let’s have a look at those numbers!

The United States now have 17% on the table, but with 2005 as baseline year instead of 1990.
Since their emissions have risen with 15% from 1990, this actually means a reduction of only 3% by 1990. The EU goes for a reduction of 20%, a target they will raise to 30% if there is an agreement in Copenhagen. Though 30 % seems good, it isn’t enough. Scientists today say that we have to reduce our emissions with at least 40% by 1990 to have a 50% chance to stay under a global warming of 2°C. A recent report of Friends of the Earth International showed that a 40% reduction in Europe is possible, even without offsetting, without nuclear or any other false solution! Then we have the Russian Federation: they put a 25% reduction-target on the table with 1990 as the baseline year. In yesterday’s meeting of the Kyoto Protocol however, they commented that this number is not for the Kyoto Protocol. So, what where they doing there? Doesn’t it seem logic to put a number on the table for the Kyoto Protocol in a Kyoto Protocol meeting about numbers? Anyway,
Australia is maybe the most appropriate to end this list with: they proposed a ridiculous 5%-reduction with 2000 as the baseline year, which compared to 1990 means even an increase by 13%!

As you can see, we’re not yet arriving where we should. We need better numbers: a reduction of at least 40% by Annex I countries, and this without offsetting, as this mechanism doesn’t ensure additional cuts. They don’t bring them welfare, they rob local communities from their land and from their independence.

To support the demand from developing countries to move forward on the Annex I target discussions, we repeated the target action we already did in Barcelona, but now in the middle of the Bella Center! We were standing in two lines, through which delegates had to pass, wearing targets and urging delegates we want to see ambitious action from industrialised countries. While shouting “offsetting, offsetting, it’s a lie” and distributing stickers demanding Annex I countries to go for a reduction target of at least 40% by 2020, loads of us where interviewed by international media! And on top of all of that, we even did a walk through the big hall at the entrance of the media center, where people spontanously starting applauding, supporting our call for climate justice!

Because that’s what we are here for. To let the industrialised countries know they can and SHOULD do better. Because it is our future.