With its ambitious vote for COP25 on climate change (Madrid, 2-13 December), the European Parliament's Environment Committee expressed its wish that the EU should remain a leader in the global fight against climate change and speak with “one united voice” in Madrid, at a time when Member States are still divided on the objective of climate neutrality by 2050 (see EUROPE 12364/23).
The Committee also stressed the importance of the cooperation by all parties to the Paris Agreement. It is in 2020 that all are expected to notify the UNFCCC of their long-term climate strategy.
MEPs called for the EU to present this strategy as quickly as possible to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, but they also hope that the Green Deal promised by Ursula von der Leyen in the first 100 days of the next Commission will raise the EU's 2030 target to a 55% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (compared to 1990).
The EPP Group does not feel the same way. The Group voted against this intermediate objective unconditionally.
“We should in any case increase the climate target to 50%. However, the increase to 55% will hit many companies and above all private individuals particularly hard”, commented Peter Liese (EPP, Germany), saying that 55% will depend on the success of international climate policy and careful impact analysis.
In preparation for the vote in plenary session, the S&D group announced on Thursday 7 November, through Miriam Dalli (Malta), that it would be “tabling an amendment requesting the European Parliament to declare a climate emergency”.
The Parliamentary Committee also called for a doubling of European contributions to the Green Climate Fund, while recognising that the EU is the largest public donor to support the efforts of developing countries. MEPs are concerned that developed countries' commitments will fall well bellow the collective target of 100 billion US dollars per year from 2020.
In their view, the EU's future budget should be in line with its commitments for sustainable development and climate.
They consider the efforts of international shipping (whose emissions are expected to increase by 50% to 250% by 2050) and international aviation to be insufficient. They want emissions from these two sectors to be included in the NDCs. The IMO must urgently implement its initial strategy to reduce ship emissions before 2023, while ICAO's CORSIA system lacks ambition, according to MEPs.
“Whether it is aligning the entire European budget with the Paris Agreement, reaffirming the need to reduce carbon emissions by 55% in 2030 or reducing imported deforestation in Europe, the Environment Committee is leading the way for Europe to become the first carbon-neutral continent in 2050”, was pleased to say Pascal Canfin (Renew Europe, France). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)