"CLIMATE CHANGE MAKES THE EU RELEVANT TO ITS CITIZENS"

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