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FRANCO-BRITISH SUMMIT, 24 NOVEMBER

Climate Change

Climate change is no longer just a threat, it is a reality. It will cause increasing damage to the environment, human health, and the economy, with dangerous consequences for world security over the coming decades. All countries will suffer. But the impacts will be felt most by developing countries who are the most vulnerable to them. Fundamental changes are therefore needed in the way we all generate and use energy to power our lives and economies.

We are determined, together with EU partners, to show leadership in tackling climate change

The Kyoto Protocol is a critical step on the path to effective global action. We expect the discussions at the 9th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention in Milan in December to demonstrate our confidence in the Protocol and signal the determination of countries from North and South alike to move forward in partnership. We look forward to Russian ratification of the Protocol and its entry into force.

EU countries must take firm action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with Kyoto commitments. To deliver the 60% or more reduction in CO2 emissions that the world's developed economies will need to make by the middle of this century, and to which we are both committed, we will need to ensure diffusion of existing technologies such as energy efficiency and renewables, in partnership with developing countries and we also need to spur innovation into the new low carbon technologies.
We will work together through the UK presidency of the G8 and beyond: to cooperate on energy efficiency; to implement the energy elements of the Action plan adopted by G8 Heads of Government at Evian in June 2003; to take forward internationally co-ordinated work on new and emerging technologies; We will work to ensure that our active cooperation on sustainable energy initiatives (European initiative, Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership.) and our support for the Bonn Conference on renewable energy helps contribute to this.

Sustainable development and environmental technologies

We are determined to deliver on our commitments from WSSD, in part through the EU's Sustainable Development Strategy and the Lisbon programme of economic reform. Using, promoting and developing environmental technologies will help to deliver both of these. We are also committed to modernise our production and consumption patterns and are convinced that greater use of environmental technologies has the potential to increase the sustainability and competitiveness of our economies, and be a driving force for innovation and growth. In that respect, we urge the Commission to come forward by the end of the year with an outcome oriented Environmental Technologies Action Plan to help deliver these goals. We are also convinced that there is room for better use of research, development and demonstration programmes and a need to examine State aids rules to enable environmental technologies to get to market and facilitate their widespread uptake.

We shall press the European council in march 2004 to consider an ambitious programme on environmental technologies focusing on tackling climate change, bringing environmental technologies to market and to modernising our sustainable production and consumption patterns.

Biodiversity

We welcome the close co-operation that has developed between France and the UK on biodiversity. We discussed our concerns about the current rate of biodiversity loss and agreed on the need for a strong science base to assess its impact. We resolved to collaborate closely to deliver the objective agreed in the 6th Environmental Action Programme to halt the decline in biodiversity loss by 2010. We agreed to strengthen links on biodiversity in the run up to the seventh meeting of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Kuala Lumpur in February 2004 and to continue to exchange experience to help improve our implementation of the Convention.

UNEP/UNEO

We are committed to maintaining the EU leading role in promoting sustainable development on a global scale by strengthening international environmental governance and enhancing linkages between UN environmental and sustainable development governance institutions, including the UN Commission on Sustainable Development and UN Development Programme. In particular we believe that steps should be taken to strengthen UNEP, including through adequate, predictable and equitable funding, which could lead to it being upgraded into a specialised UN agency with a broad-based mandate on environmental matters.

High Level Group

We are pleased to announce that we will establish a bilateral High Level group to formalise our cooperation. This will provide strategic guidance and set an agenda for future action.