The 27 Heads of State or Government of the EU Member States agreed, on the evening of Thursday 15 October, to return to the issue of raising the EU’s climate target for 2030 at the European Council on 10-11 December.
Their objective is to reach an agreement at this Summit and thus be in a position to present the update of the EU’s nationally determined contribution (NDC) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) before the end of the year, as required by the Paris Agreement.
Such a scenario was expected (see EUROPE 12581/1), since it was only an “initial orientation debate”, in the words of German Chancellor Angela Merkel upon her arrival at the Summit.
While the discussion this time was relatively short (less than 2 hours), negotiations in December could prove much more difficult.
The European Commission’s proposal to raise the EU’s target for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 to ‘at least 55%’ had in fact been criticised by some Central and Eastern European countries (see EUROPE 12563/18).
Burden sharing
Nevertheless, these countries do not reject this new objective outright. On his arrival in Brussels, the Czech Prime Minister, Andrej Babiš – who was also representing the Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, who is currently in quarantine – thus declared that he was not opposed to the -55% target, provided that it was a target for the Union as a whole. While some countries may be able to aim for a reduction in emissions by more than 55%, such a target is impossible in the case of the Czech Republic, he said.
His Bulgarian counterpart, Boyko Borissov, stressed the need to help his country, but also all Central and Eastern European countries whose economies are based on coal and fossil fuels, if the EU wants to move towards a 55% reduction.
Agreeing with him, the Lithuanian President, Gitanas Nausėda, called for “fair burden sharing”, as well as individual assessments of the room for manoeuvre available to each Member State to contribute to this objective.
In the light of the conclusions adopted at the end of the Summit, these demands appear to have been heard. The text thus states that “the updated target should be delivered collectively by the EU”, while adding that “all Member States will participate in this effort, taking into account national circumstances and considerations of fairness and solidarity”.
The European Council also “invites the Commission to conduct in-depth consultations with Member States to assess the specific situations and to provide more information about the impact [of reducing emissions by at least 55%] at Member States’ level”. This element was not included in the first draft conclusions which had circulated (see EUROPE 12580/18, 12575/20).
On her departure from the summit, Ms Merkel for her part assured that the discussion among the EU27 had shown a strong willingness to follow the Commission’s proposal.
Berlin wants a deal in 2020
The Chancellor also recalled Germany’s determination to reach agreement on a reduction of at least 55% before 2021 (see EUROPE 12580/18).
Berlin will have the opportunity to do so at the meeting of EU environment ministers on Friday 23 October.
On Wednesday, the leaders of 11 EU countries – Denmark, Spain, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden – issued a joint statement in favour of an increased target of ‘at least 55% for 2030 (compared to 1990 emissions levels), in line with the Commission’s proposal (see EUROPE 12581/1).
For its part, the European Parliament defends an emission reduction target for 2030 set at 60% (see EUROPE 12577/12).
See the European Council conclusions: https://bit.ly/3kgJ3Q1 (Original version in French by Damien Genicot with the editorial staff)