The European Parliament approved by a very large majority (550 votes in favour, 80 against and 59 abstentions) on Thursday 17 December a draft resolution calling for the EU to place greater emphasis on adaptation to climate change, in particular by adopting binding and quantifiable targets at EU and national level.
With this resolution, MEPs aim to influence the future EU strategy on the subject, which the Commission is due to present in early 2021 (the current strategy dates from 2013).
In particular, the resolution urges Member States to develop prevention and rapid response plans for climatic disasters such as heat waves, floods and droughts and to include mechanisms for cross-border action and solidarity.
MEPs also call for more funding at EU, national and regional level and for public and private investment in adaptation. In their view, the new target of spending 30% of EU funds on climate should thus contribute to both climate mitigation and adaptation.
The resolution also stresses that only climate-proof infrastructure should receive EU funding, while insisting that the polluter pays principle be respected.
Finally, an amendment tabled by the Greens/EFA and adopted by a narrow majority (354 in favour, 333 against and 9 abstentions) calls for the future EU strategy to include binding and quantifiable targets at both EU and Member State level.
On the other hand, another Greens/EFA amendment calling on the EU and Member States to support the establishment of a UN instrument for the coordination of population movements due to climate change was rejected (284 in favour, 327 against and 81 abstentions).
“We need to invest in nature-based and sustainable solutions, protect the economy from climate problems, improve the resilience of critical infrastructure, adding climate factors to risk managing practices, intensifying prevention and preparedness making use of technological advancements”, said Lídia Pereira (EPP, Portugal), one of Parliament’s rapporteurs, in a debate ahead of the vote.
While welcoming Parliament’s resolution, Commissioner for Budget and Administration Johannes Hahn urged MEPs to ensure that this issue is properly addressed in the various sectoral laws and not to wait for certain changes in legislation to be necessary.
At the time of going to press, the resolution as adopted was not yet available.
See the unamended version of the resolution: https://bit.ly/3nvLuPY (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)