This spike in attention is indeed welcome as Australian policymakers, stakeholders and ordinary citizens start coming to grips with what must surely be the challenge of the century. I say ''start'' because this issue will need concerted action over many years if we are to combat global warming effectively.

Not only, as Professor Garnaut points out, does the issue require bipartisan support in Australia, but it requires the whole world to act concertedly if we are to preserve this world as we know it. I trust that the weight of scientific evidence is now such that no one can doubt the need for urgent international action.

The European Union has been at the forefront of the fight against climate change for almost two decades now and we are generally presented as ''a'', if not, ''the'' leader in this area. Why?

Sustainability is at the core of the EU's policymaking one which is based on solid principles and framed in medium-term strategies. Invariably this means that environment, social and economic interests are all taken into account in every policy area not just climate change. Environmental and social impact statements are now the norm in proposals for European legislation.

Through the EU's medium-term planing mechanism known as Environment Action Programs we examine the issues and propose actions to address the challenges. There is no doubt in Europe that climate change is the major issue of our current program.

It was as early as 1991 when the EU started to be concerned with the growing body of scientific evidence showing the ill-effects of climate change. It prompted the EU to launch the first EU strategy to limit carbon dioxide emissions and improve energy efficiencies.

By 2000 the EU was ready to adopt the first European Climate Change Program, helping it to address the challenges of climate change in a more systematic way by identifying a list of priority actions and policy measures in areas as varied as voluntary standards for car emissions to co-generation and urban greening.

A second program was launched in 2005 one which extended the initial package and introduced an emissions trading system. The ETS, with all its imperfections, was the first integrated system in the world to be applied by a collective number of states. The EU is learning from its experience and improving this system. In October EU Heads of State and Government endorsed a package of concrete policy proposals to set Europe on a path towards a low carbon economy. The EU now stands ready to deliver an ambitious medium- and long-term climate change package. The EU has committed to reducing its overall emissions to at least 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020, and is ready to scale up this reduction to as much as 30 per cent under a new global climate change agreement if other developed countries make comparable efforts. It has also set itself the target of increasing the share of renewables in energy use to 20 per cent by 2020.

The EU has long recognised that climate change is a global problem, and that the solution needs concerted international action. The EU has thus been a very active participant in the UN framework and a particularly strong advocate of the Kyoto protocol. This is why the EU is committed to meeting its Kyoto targets and we may even go beyond them. In Bali last December, most of the world applauded in unison when Australia ratified that protocol. But we always understood that Kyoto was just the beginning and we now need to move forward collectively if we are to have an impact in preserving our environment.

We know that on its own the EU will not have any magic solutions. A major collective effort from both the developed world and developing countries is needed but again as Professor Garnaut points out, the developed world must take the lead.

There are three important reasons why the EU has been proactive:

First, we know that all nations, one day or another, will have to take measures in order to mitigate and to adapt to climate change, so the sooner, the better.

Second, we have a duty as developed nations and as such significant polluters to develop policies and the technology needed that we can then transfer to other parts of the world. Finally, the EU is convinced that the first to move will be able to harvest the early fruits of the adaptation needed for the new economic environment.

In Europe, we do consider that good international cooperation is essential if we are to adopt the right measures and have a significant impact on climate change over an acceptable period of time. This is why we continue to play a very active role in the Bali process to prepare a broader agreement by 2012.

Of course, this is a difficult task and we are often accused both of doing too much, or doing too little. I would like to emphasise that we do not want to preach to others. But the fight has become a common global task and we are willing to share our experiences and to cooperate in goodwill with all partners. And we approach the exercise with an open mind: we can certainly learn from others.

It appears to me that Australia is now in the same frame of mind. So what can we do together?

For a start we can share our information and expertise particularly on emissions trading. We can collaborate towards a comprehensive global post-2012 agreement to tackle climate change. We can exchange our technical and research cooperation in domains of energy efficiency, renewable energies, and clean coal technologies. And we can both support climate adaptation and mitigation in developing countries.

These are all areas where we can work together. Following the visit of Prime Minister Rudd to Brussels in early April and his meeting with President Barroso, both sides are working towards a new partnership framework agreement to give more substance and direction to our cooperation. What better challenge than climate change is there to carry this work forward and together make our contribution to safeguarding the planet for our future generations? We may live on opposite sides of the world but the same global issues affect us.

Ambassador Bruno Julien is head of the European Commission Delegation to Australia.