Brussels, 25/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - More than just a wish list, the roadmap for Paris, unveiled by the Commission on Wednesday 25 February as a part of the strategic framework for energy union, is, in the view of European Climate Action Commissioner Miguel Arias Canete, a vision and a strategy for an ambitious global climate agreement in Paris at the UN conference (COP 21) in December of this year (see EUROPE 11261).
By ambitious agreement, it should be understood “an agreement that includes a long-term target of a 60% reduction in global emissions by 2050, a legally binding, transparent agreement, with a process to verify pledges and a five-year revision”, stated the commissioner, summarising for the press what the Commission is looking for from all the parties to the negotiations, in its communication The Paris Protocol - A blueprint for tackling global climate change beyond 2020.
With a target of a 40% reduction in its emissions by 2030, compared with 1990 levels - an offer it intends to submit before 31 March 2015 - “the EU is leading the way”, Canete believes. “I want climate protection to be at the heart of the transition towards decarbonisation of the economy”, he made clear, announcing that a proposal for the reform of the ETS after 2020 will be presented this summer and that, at the start of June, he will convene a major conference on the decarbonisation of transport.
Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic gave assurances that European energy union will contribute to the EU climate policy, the most ambitious in the world.
Disappointment. The Greens/EFA Group in the Parliament, disappointed by what they heard, have a very different view. They say that the vision offered to the EU ahead of the “crucial UN climate summit in Paris” is severely lacking in ambition. “This communication is totally out of line with the overarching goal of limiting global warming to below 2 degrees and preventing dangerous climate change. The Commission is just lying down and accepting that Paris will not produce a deal consistent with the 2 degree target, rather than making an effort to ensure it does”, argued Yannick Jadot (Greens, France), the group's spokesperson on the climate talks.
Bas Eickhout (Greens, Netherlands) said that adding a long-term target “seemingly plucked out of the air” does not allow the Commission simply to abandon the 2 degree target. Friends of the Earth Europe says “it's frustrating to see the European Commission say it's serious about tackling climate change but gloss over the inadequacy of its own measures to transform Europe's energy system” and the 40% reduction in EU emissions is, it says, “based on outdated science”. (Translation from the original French version)