European Climate Action and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete is representing the Commission at the high-level international conference on the Paris Agreement, jointly chaired by the EU, China and Canada in Montreal on Friday 15 and Saturday 16 September. The meeting of the ministers of 34 countries, including those of the G20, aims to strengthen world action on combatting global warming.
It was announced in May of this year as a way of forging ahead, no matter whether or not the United States decided to withdraw from the Paris Agreement (see EUROPE 11795). The announcement by Donald Trump of US withdrawal came a few days later.
The commissioner and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will chair the round table discussion on climate action and clean growth. “The EU remains committed to the Paris Agreement and its full and swift implementation”, Cañete said in a press release on Friday. He noted that, domestically, the EU is progressing steadily with the finalisation of the measures to reduce its emissions by at least 40% by 2030, compared with 1990, before adding: “Internationally, we are strengthening our existing partnerships and seeking new alliances”.
The speech delivered two days earlier by Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on the State of the Union disappointed many NGOs because, despite the stated ambition, no mention was made of raising the EU’s climate target (see EUROPE 11861). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)