VZCZCXRO4846
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDF RUEHHM RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHMA
RUEHPB RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHTM RUEHTRO
DE RUEHFR #0039 0121541
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 121541Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5223
INFO RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUCNMUC/EU CANDIDATE STATES COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS PARIS 000039 
 
SENSITIVE 
NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV TRGY ENRG EU FR
SUBJECT: FRENCH ENVIRONMENT OFFICIALS SEEK EARLY MEETING WITH OBAMA 
ADMINISTRATION 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Several French environment officials have 
underscored France's desire be a trailblazer on global environment 
and expressed the GOF's wish to meet the Obama Administration 
climate officials as soon as possible to discuss climate 
negotiations in preparation for the December 2009 Copenhagen 
Conference.  Although the French EU Presidency ended on December 31, 
2008, the French still see themselves as driving European climate 
change negotiating tactics.  End summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Senior French environmental officials at the Ministry of 
Ecology, Environment, Sustainable Development and Regional Planning 
(MEEDDAT) including Secretary of State for Ecology Natalie 
Kosciusko-Morizet, Ambassador on Climate Negotiations Brice Lalonde, 
and Special Advisor to Environment Ministry Borloo Peter Carl have 
emphasized to us the GOF's desire to push the global environmental 
envelope (See Paris Points).  MEEDDAT International Climate 
Negotiations Team Leader Paul Watkinson reiterated to ESTH Counselor 
the French desire for an early meeting with Obama Administration 
environment officials looking toward the December 2009 United 
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations 
in Copenhagen and to discuss the goals.  He hopes that Copenhagen 
will result in a ten-page statement of agreed principles sufficient 
to claim political success, with the more difficult question of 
implementing details to be worked out later. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Watkinson sees the climate negotiations as increasingly 
complex and operating on several levels simultaneously.  Parallel 
activities outside the UNFCCC negotiating process, such as the G-8, 
G-20 and Major Economies Meeting (MEM), will facilitate talks and 
may produce side agreements.  In particular, the MEM could 
facilitate consensus, particularly if the Obama Administration 
encourages a sense of process ownership.  Controversial issues 
should be discussed quietly outside the highly politicized UNFCCC 
forum in Copenhagen. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Watkinson welcomed the prospect that the US Congress might 
pass legislation setting the goal of reducing US GHG emissions to 
1990 levels by 2020.  This would set the US on a downward 
trajectory.  Given the European goal of reducing GHG by 20 percent 
below 1990, the European Greens, however, might reject this US 
effort as insufficient and seek to disrupt the Copenhagen 
negotiations.  He believes ways can be found to get around this 
potential obstruction. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Comment:  Watkinson approach adds to our impression that 
the French continue to perceive themselves as driving European 
tactics in the run up to the December 2009 Copenhagen negotiations. 
Hence their great desire to be first in line for environment talks 
with the incoming Administration. 
 
Stapleton