On the climate front, with legislation in place to ensure the continent is climate neutral by 2050, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made few announcements, other than financial ones, in her State of the Union address to the European Parliament on Wednesday 15 September.
Above all, she emphasised the solidarity that the European Union will show with developing countries on the international stage to tackle the climate and environmental crisis in the context of the upcoming UN meetings.
In her sights: the COP26 on climate, which she mentioned (Glasgow, 31 October-12 November), and the COP15 on biological diversity, which she did not mention, but which she had in mind, against the backdrop of the multilateralism that she is promoting.
“Europe can do a lot. And it will support others. I am proud to announce today that the EU will double its external funding for biodiversity, in particular for the most vulnerable countries”, said the Commission President.
Strengthening international climate efforts
On the climate front, she announced an additional EU contribution of €4 billion for climate finance until 2027. This will be in addition to the $25 billion per year currently pledged by the EU.
While developed countries had pledged to collectively mobilise $100 billion per year to help developing countries address climate change, the amount of money made available for climate finance falls far short of the target.
Mrs von der Leyen therefore called on the EU’s partners, in particular the US, to also step up their efforts in the run-up to the COP26.
“Closing the climate finance gap together – the US and the EU – would be a strong signal for global climate leadership”, she said, all the while calling the COP26 as “a moment of truth for the world”.
The German also called for countries to make concrete plans to meet their climate targets before the COP26, mentioning the US, Japan, but especially China.
Welcoming China’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060 (see EUROPE 12566/4), she called on Beijing “to show that same leadership on setting out how China will get there”.
She added: “The world would be relieved if they showed they could peak emissions by mid-decade - and move away from coal at home and abroad!”.
Legislative measures in 2022. The Commission will present in 2022 a legislative proposal on carbon removal certification and another on an EU framework for harmonised measurement of transport and logistics emissions, according to the letter of intent.
Environmental initiatives will focus on the implementation of the EU’s Zero Pollution Action Plan and the Second Circular Economy Action Plan. The Commission is announcing a legislative proposal on integrated water management to reduce surface and groundwater pollution, a legislative proposal to reduce the release of microplastics into the environment and to restrict the addition of microplastics to products, and a legislative proposal on the consumers’ right to repair (see EUROPE 12654/2, 12645/5).
Reactions to the speech. The chair of the European Parliament’s S&D group, Iratxe García Pérez (Spain), expressed concern about a possible “social divide” as the EU moves forward with environmental policies. Hence her wish to strengthen the ‘Social Climate Fund’ by giving it more financial means and clear criteria for its distribution (see EUROPE 12762/6).
Greens/EFA co-president Philippe Lamberts (Belgium) called for “faster, higher, stronger (...) to save the climate” and to ensure that the EU does not miss out on “the green revolution”. While recalling his group’s recent proposals on the ‘Fit for 55’ climate package (see EUROPE 12790/5), he also criticised the agreement on the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP - see other news).
This criticism is shared by the NGO network CAN Europe, which claims that the EU should aim to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 65% by 2030, and not by at least 55% (the target set by the ‘Climate Law’).
“In light of both the devastating events over the summer and the most recent findings of the IPCC, the UN’s scientific body, more ambition and stronger measures and policies are needed”, said Wendel Trio, director of the organisation.
The co-chair of the Parliament’s ECR group, Raffaele Fitto (Italy), stressed the need to assess the impact of the environmental transition “on our productive and economic system”.
The ID group vice-president Jörg Meuthen (Germany) called the European Green Deal “an unprecedented attack on the economic foundations of our continent”. He said that the EU was showing “excessive pride ” in trying to “save the planet alone”.
See the State of the Union address: https://bit.ly/3ltHxvq
See the Commission’s letter of intent for 2022: https://bit.ly/3EmHlGS (Original version in French by Aminata Niang and Damien Genicot)