Federation of Young European Greens

Negotiators at the UN Climate Change Conference have come away from the table with something to show for their stay in Durban. Yet it is far from the ambitious and binding targets that Young Green activists have so strongly hoped and campaigned for, over the last months.

The agreement, which was only reached at the eleventh hour by negotiators, falls seriously short of the expectations and demands of Greens - old and young, as formulated in a document agreed upon at the Congress of European Greens last month in Paris.

Despite this disappointing outcome, the conference witnessed the EU taking a leading role in pushing for an agreement, as well as establishing an alliance with the small island states (AOSIS) and the least developed countries (LDC). This shows that the level of distrust of these poor countries towards the EU has been significantly reduced. FYEG welcomes these developments and believes they may have a great impact on future talks, which could prove significant along the path towards the Rio+20 Earth Summit - a key moment for Greens in 2012.

FYEG co-spokesperson Terry Reintke said, "While the agreement itself does not inspire the greatest confidence, it is clear that those defining global policy on the environment are now feeling the pressure. This is shown by the fact that they did not go home until some agreement was reached. These are promising signs, but unfortunately this time they have failed to deliver an agreement that can really prevent irreversible and devastating climate change. As things stand, we are heading for a 4 degree celsius rise, rather than the 1.5 that we as greens demand, which is almost certain to result in catastrophic consequences for millions around the globe."

FYEG co-spokesperson Nic Schaefers said, "We will keep up the pressure and not take our eye off this issue even for a moment. The EU has shown here that is does have the potential to take a leading role and to make things happen. But we need to push for more, and to hold our leaders accountable for ensuring that action is taken to avert the climate crisis. Words are not enough, we need to establish and stick to our own internal targets, and we will make sure the pressure stays on."

Ends.