By Isabel Ovalle
DOHA: Spain hopes to leave Doha not only with an agreement on the Kyoto Protocol, but also with the basics of a document to move forward with the Durban Platform.
Federico Ramos, Spanish Secretary of State for Environment, said that “the protocol expired in 2012 and it’s important that countries agree on a new period.”
The Secretary of State said that it still remains to define the new conditions to which to commit, especially with regard to the surplus of “hot air” allowances corresponding to the previous period.
European countries such as Russia, Ukraine, and Poland aim to keep their rights for the new commitment period. On this matter, Ramos clarified that within the European Union (EU) “the matter is closed,” so that from 2013-2020 the EU will not allow using remaining emission rights.
Spain wants to “help invigorate and advance on this issues” within the EU, which has the most ambitious commitment of all the country groups so far, given that it pledges to reduce its emissions 20 percent before 2020.
Ramos also said they are setting the stage for reaching an agreement to enter into force in 2015 and replace Kyoto. On this issue he said that countries must act, given that this is “a very serious commitment that for many countries requires a period of internal ratification in each state.”
“It will be approved in 2015,” added the Secretary of State, to whom the relevant goal of the summit is an extension of the Kyoto Protocol, without which “the international framework in the fight against global climate would disappear”.
The Peninsula
