— CONSULTATION DRAFT — Europe Beyond Aid: Assessing European Commitment to Global Environment Franziska Lehmann, McKenna Davis, Andrew Eberle, Adam Pearson, and Eike Velten T his report was created in partnership with the Ecologic Institute. Abstract A healthy environment is a necessity for all. While rich countries bear the most responsibility for cre- ating anthropogenic climate change, it is the poor countries for which the impact will be much more damaging. Many global fish stocks are overexploited and demand for fish remains high in Europe. Much of the world’s poor depend on healthy ecosystems and biodiversity. Although tropical timber imports have been decreasing in recent years, rich countries need to step up their efforts in biodiver- sity protection and conservation. Environment is one of the seven policy areas that are assessed by the Commitment to Development Index (CDI). The environment component contains indicators in three major areas: global climate, fisheries, and biodiversity and global ecosystems. This paper assesses performance of Europe in the environment component. It first analyses the respective indicators and their implications for the world’s poorest countries, discusses the underlying policy framework, and draws policy recommen- dations for European institutions and member countries based on identified strengths and weakness- es. Although Europe as a whole and European countries individually rank better than non-European countries, further efforts are required in order to support developing countries. Europe Beyond Aid Consultation Report Series Europe Beyond Aid uses the Commitment to discussion about how European policies can improve. Development Index (CDI) to examine European By the end of the year, we will synthesize the expert countries’ collective commitment to development consensus on the seven themes of the CDI into a on seven cross-border issues: aid, trade, finance, comprehensive and specific policy agenda for migration, environment, security, and technology. European countries setting out practical, evidence- based conclusions on how they can improve their We calculate a consolidated score for the 21 policies which affect development and global poverty. European countries included in the CDI to track their pursuit of development-friendly policies. In 2014 the Please, share your comments, suggestions and ideas Center for Global Development is launching a series by email to pkrylova@cgdev.org. We will be looking of discussion papers for public consultation. Our forward to hearing from you. goal is to press for a broader and more informed www.cgdev.org
CONSULTATION DRAFT 1. Qualitative Analysis of Environment Policy in Europe Environment is one of the seven policy areas that are included into the Commitment to Development Index (CDI). In this area it contains indicators in three major areas: global climate, fisheries and biodiversity and global ecosystems. The areas are assigned respectively 60%, 10% and 30% weight in the environment component (see Table 1 below). The various indicators range from treaty ratifications to greenhouse gas emissions to dollar amounts of subsidies. These are then translated into standardized scores following the same approach as the other sections of the CDI 1 . This chapter lays out strengths and weaknesses for the three different areas in Environment for the European countries included in the CDI 2 . Moreover, the underlying EU policy framework relevant for the CDI indicators is described. Finally, the section discusses the impact of European policies on the world’s poor. Table 1: CDI Environment component subcomponents, indicators and weights subcomponents indicators weight Global climate 60% GHG emissions and fuel production per capita (in tons CO2 equivalent) 10% % change in GHG emissions/GDP 15% Gasoline taxes 15% Consumption of ozone-depleting substances 10% Kyoto Protocol ratification 10% 10% Sustainable fisheries Fishing subsidies 5% Ratification of UN Fisheries Agreement 5% Biodiversity and global ecosystems 30% Biodiversity treaties participation 15% Tropical wood imports 15% Source: CGD 2013 1 However, the environment component is not averaged to 5 (as other components), due to different scoring of the environment treaties, the average in the base year (2012) was 6.1. 2 Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway*, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland* and United Kingdom (* indicates countries not members of the EU, but of the European Economic Area and, hence, also implementing EU policies). 1
CONSULTATION DRAFT a. The Contextual Framework and Implications for the World’s Poor Global Climate The scientific debate surrounding the existence and cause of climate change is practically settled. An overwhelming scientific consensus asserts that: (1) climate change is taking place; (2) the effects of climate change are already measurable; (3) the effects of climate change will continue into the future; (4) climate change is anthropogenic – that is, caused by human activities; and, (5) human-induced greenhouse gas emissions are the leading contributor to this phenomenon (IPCC 2013). On top of that, recent analyses have suggested that the impacts of climate change on human society could be greater than the projections that had been made by many of the earlier climate impact models (IPCC 2013; IPCC 2007). Climate change will not impact all countries equally; in fact, it is most likely to have its harshest impacts on developing countries. Much research has suggested that developing countries are generally located in regions that will receive a disproportionate amount of the impacts of climate change, including increased climatic variability, more frequent (and more severe) weather events, sea level rise, and spread of disease (United States Environmental Protection Agency 2013; Bruckner 2012; Mendelsohn, et al. 2006; IPCC 2007). Africa is already home to some of the planet’s most variable climatic regions, with some areas known to have oscillated between floods and droughts within a single year. It is likely that as climate change progresses Africa’s weather will become even more erratic, and in addition tropical diseases could spread far beyond the range in which they are currently found (Ludi 2009; United States Environmental Protection Agency 2013; UNFCCC 2007). Latin America is threatened with freshwater scarcity and a steep decline in agricultural productivity (United States Environmental Protection Agency 2013; UNFCCC 2007). South and Southeast Asia, in addition to facing potential losses of freshwater access and crop productivity (United States Environmental Protection Agency 2013), is already home to the greatest number of climate-related diseases (UNFCCC 2007). Furthermore, not only are there tens of millions of people living in areas threatened by sea level rise, but South and Southeast Asia are perhaps under the biggest threat of inland flooding, as climate change is expected to simultaneously increase the amount of ice and snowmelt in the Himalayas and strengthen seasonal monsoons, bringing both more melt water and more rainwater (UNFCCC 2007). Most vulnerable however, are the small island states. They are expected to have greatly reduced access to freshwater through a combination of reduced rainfall and increased salinization of ground water due to rising sea levels (United States Environmental Protection Agency 2013; UNFCCC 2007). This salinization is also expected to have a very negative impact on agricultural production, as saline groundwater leads to saline – and therefore infertile – soils (UNFCCC 2007). Finally, and most severely, some small island countries are actually under threat of having their entire territory inundated by rising sea levels, effectively wiping whole countries off the map (United States Environmental Protection Agency 2013; UNFCCC 2007). In addition to being the most vulnerable, developing countries are the least able to adapt to changing climatic conditions. There are many concerns that the infrastructure necessary for withstanding an altered climate is not currently in place or will be rendered useless by sea level rise or other impacts of climate change. Furthermore, developing countries are generally impacted more harshly by natural disasters than are developed countries, as they typically lack a robust system of emergency services and property insurance, which facilitate recovery and rebuilding efforts; additionally, due to their smaller economies, natural disasters can have a larger and longer lasting effect on developing countries’ economic situation than they tend to in larger economies (Burchette 2013; Buhayar 2013). While most of the devastating impacts will strike the less resilient countries, developed countries have created the majority of anthropogenic greenhouse gasses, and are therefore much more responsible for climate change – and its impacts – than developing countries. Not only are developed countries currently 2
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