At the beginning of week two, one can be forgiven for being confused about where the EU stands on the key issues facing the Nairobi COP. If the EU is going to exercise its much-vaunted leadership, then now would be a very good time. The waffling and mixed signals that characterised its performance in week one are unacceptable.

As ministers begin arriving, CAN urges the EU to speak up loudly in favour of moving rapidly ahead with preparations for a post-2012 negotiating mandate to be agreed at COP/MOP3 next year and then completed by 2008. This timeline is necessary as a response to the urgent calls from across the globe for rapid action to send the right signal to the private sector in particular about the future of the carbon markets.

It is especially necessary in the case of the EU as it will take years for Europe to ratify, agree burden-sharing arrangements internally and, most importantly, to put the policies and programmes in place to implement their new commitments. 

No gap means NO GAP. Also, any considerations of extending the current commitment period must be abandoned now.

Developing countries are rightly sceptical about whether or not Annex I countries are living up to their part of the bargain. The EU could alleviate some of that scepticism if it put its cards on the table.

France, Germany and the UK have very publicly called for an EU emissions reduction target of 30 per cent by 2020. Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende has just experienced a global warming epiphany (thanks to Al Gore) and is supporting urgent action. Are Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Austria and other traditionally progressive countries behind this target? This issue will be decided at EU Heads of State and Government level in March next year.

With emerging impacts, the Stern Report and an unprecedented public call for urgent action, perhaps it is time for member states to play their part in “encouraging” the EU to get its act together, clarify its position on timing and targets, and do the right thing.