At their next meeting on Monday, 25 January, the foreign ministers of the Member States are expected to call for a global phase-out of coal and fossil fuel subsidies, according to draft EU Council conclusions on climate and energy diplomacy.
“The EU calls for a global phase-out of environmentally harmful fossil-fuel subsidies along a clear timeline”, as well as “a phasing out of unabated coal in energy production and – as a first step – an immediate end to all financing of new coal infrastructure in third countries”, says paragraph 12 of the document obtained by EUROPE.
It also states that: “EU energy diplomacy will discourage all further investments into fossil fuel based energy infrastructure projects in third countries, unless they are fully consistent with an ambitious, clearly defined pathway towards climate neutrality”.
After having just been discussed by the Member States' ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) on Friday 22 January, the draft conclusions are expected to be adopted by the ministers on Monday (see EUROPE 12642/2). The latter could nevertheless decide to make last-minute changes (the Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council has already proposed a new version of the text, leaving part of paragraph 12 in brackets).
The document, in particular paragraph 12, was indeed divisive, preventing the EU Council's Political and Security Committee from reaching an agreement at its meeting on 20 January.
“The ministers always have the last word”, a European diplomat said on Friday, while considering the text to be well negotiated, complete and ambitious.
Linking climate and energy diplomacy
For the EU Council, it was important that its conclusions should focus not only on climate diplomacy (as is the case every year), but also on energy diplomacy, given that the energy transition will “create tensions” that needs to be anticipated.
In addition to the points addressed in paragraph 12, the draft conclusions thus state that EU diplomacy will promote energy efficiency, the deployment of safe and sustainable low-carbon technologies, the adoption and increasing integration of renewable energies and the highest standards of environment, nuclear safety and transparency.
European energy diplomacy will also support the reform processes of international organisations, bodies and initiatives in the field of energy, underlines the text, mentioning the “urgent need for progress in the negotiations for the modernisation of the Energy Charter Treaty”.
Regarding hydrogen, the document calls for further international cooperation “to strengthen efforts to produce and enable import of renewable hydrogen in particular”.
Finally, the text underlines that “the EU will ensure that its trade policy and its trade agreements are consistent with its climate ambition”.
See the draft conclusions: http://bit.ly/2Y452Qy (Original version in French by Damien Genicot with Camille-Cerise Gessant)