The agreement reached at the Doha Climate Change Conference was welcomed by the European Union. In particular, the EU welcomed the workplan agreed for 2013 and beyond under the Durban Platform. The balanced Doha outcome enabled the EU to confirm its commitment to participate in the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol starting on 1 January 2013.

The Doha climate change conference, which lays the basis for more ambitious international action against climate change in the short term, paves the way for a new global climate agreement to be finalised in 2015 and enables a second period of the Kyoto Protocol to start on 1 January 2013, ended with an agreement welcomed by the European Union. However, Matthias Groote, chair of the Environment Committee in the European Parliament regretted the EU’s performance during the negotiations because of persisting disagreements between Member states. In November 2011, the Commission published a study which showed the Doha deal benefits for Europe.

The conference agreed a workplan for 2013 and beyond under the Durban Platform. This workplan sets out a schedule of events and suggests themes to be addressed under both workstreams. Moreover, the Durban Platform will be the sole negotiating forum for the 2015 agreement, as agreed in the conference.

The EU also confirmed its commitment to participate in the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol starting on 1 January 2013. The conference adopted a ratifiable amendment setting out the rules governing the second period. It will run for eight years, thus ensuring no gap occurs between its end and the entry into force of the new global agreement in 2020. The EU will apply the amendment from 1 January 2013 even though formal ratification by the European institutions and Member States is likely to take over a year.