The European Council will briefly discuss the fight against climate change on Friday 14 December in Brussels, while COP 24 in Katowice (3-14 December) comes to an end.
According to the draft conclusions, this subject will be the congruent part of a European summit dominated by Brexit, but the Heads of State or Government will send a political signal that they are ready to move forward with the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement.
They should take note of the communication just presented by the Juncker Commission on 28 November on its vision for a future strategy to lead the EU to become a climate-neutral economy by 2050 (see EUROPE 12148). Without commenting on the content of this draft, they should announce their intention to set political priorities and give a general approach in the first quarter of 2019 for this strategy to be adopted by the EU by 2020, as all parties to the Paris Agreement are required to do.
Last March, the European Council asked the Commission to help them by presenting to them, "by the first quarter of 2019”, i.e., sufficiently in advance of COP 25 (11-22 November 2019), a proposal for a long-term strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as "provided for in the Paris Agreement, taking into account national plans”. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)