According to the willingness expressed in the speeches, the 11th iteration of the Petersberg Climate Dialogue (27-28 April) sent a positive signal for the revival of global climate ambition at COP26, postponed to 2021, and for the post-Covid-19 green economic recovery.
Convened by Germany and co-chaired by the United Kingdom, which will preside over COP26, the Dialogue took place by videoconference with Ministers from 35 countries.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and COP26 President Alok Sharma urged governments to develop post-Covid-19 economic stimulus packages that would meet the challenge of climate change rather than exacerbate it.
“it is important that recovery programs always keep an eye on the climate”, the Chancellor said. She also welcomed the EU’s plan to raise the EU’s 2030 target for reducing its emissions to 50%-55% (from at least 40% below 1990 levels) as a step towards climate neutrality by 2050.
“We will be ready in September”, said European Commission Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans, stressing that once adopted by EU legislators, the revised 2030 target “can then be translated into revised national plans by our Member States”. He recalled that the European Green Deal is considered to be the EU’s green recovery plan.
Japan, whose climate plan (NDC) foresees the maintenance of its 2030 target (see EUROPE 12458/30), has assured through its Environment Minister, Shinjirō Koizumi that it will aim “for further ambitious emission reduction efforts” before COP26.
“The message was loud and clear: the post-coronavirus recovery must propel us towards a more resilient, low-carbon and prosperous world, rather than doubling our reliance on the polluting and unfair practices of the past”, says Helen Mountford, vice-president of the World Resources Institute (WRI), in a statement. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)