Brussels, 20/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - Maros Sefcovic, European Commission Vice-President, and Sharon Dijksma, President in office of the Environment Council, will sign the Paris Climate Accord on behalf of the European Union, in New York on Thursday 22 April.
European Climate Action Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete and Ségolène Royal, Chair of COP 21, will be among the many participants at the signing ceremony, to which UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has invited the heads of state of the 195 countries which have signed up to the Accord. The outlook appears favourable, with 150 announcing that they will attend.
Ahead of this decisive event, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Christiana Figueres was sufficiently upbeat to predict on 19 April that the Accord “could come into force by 2018”, rather than 2020.
This first universal agreement, concluded in Paris on 12 December of last year (see EUROPE 11452), will be opened for signature until 21 April 2017 and, to come into force, will have to be ratified by 55 parties responsible for a total of at least 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions (GGEs). As far as the EU is concerned, this is an area of shared responsibility where the signatures of the EU and of its member states are required.
While all EU member states will certainly sign the Paris Accord, many will not begin their national ratification procedures without learning the targets that will be assigned to them in the effort sharing among the 28 states.
Cañete expressed his concern at this to the European Parliament's environment committee on 19 April (see EUROPE 11535). And, in this, he is not alone. “After signing, the Paris Accord will enter a new and critical phase - that of ratification - which we intend to keep a close eye on. The European Commission must respond immediately by putting in place a fast-track procedure so that ratification does not become bogged down as some member states, such as Poland, would like”, said Yannick Jadot, (Greens/EFA, France), group spokesperson on climate issues, on Wednesday 20 April. Climate Action Network Europe (CAN Europe) fears that the EU might lag behind other countries in both ratification and implementation. “The EU helped make the Paris Summit a success but then set off to turn its outcomes into action at a snail's pace”, said CAN Europe Director Wendel Trio. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)