On Wednesday 6 October, the Environment Ministers of the European Union Member States adopted draft conclusions of the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the European Union in preparation for the 26th United Nations Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP26), which will be held in Glasgow from 31 October to 12 November.
Welcoming the result, Slovenian Minister of the Environment and Spatial Planning Andrej Vizjak stated, “At COP26, the EU will call on all parties to the Paris Agreement to come forward with ambitious national emissions reduction targets and for developed countries to step up international climate finance”.
While most of the text had already been agreed by the Member States’ ambassadors to the EU (Coreper—see EUROPE 12797/4), the ministers still had to agree on the EU’s position on the issue of the timing of ‘nationally determined contributions’ (NDCs)—documents setting out the efforts of each party to the Paris Agreement to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and adapt to the consequences of climate change.
They finally agreed to express the EU Council’s preference for a common five-year timetable for NDCs of all parties, to be implemented by the EU from 2031 onwards only if all parties are obliged to do so and in a manner consistent with EU climate legislation (‘Climate Act’).
The conclusions also set out the EU’s position on voluntary cooperation under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. A major issue at COP26, this article—which the parties have not yet managed to agree on—sets out the rules for an international carbon market.
See the conclusions: https://bit.ly/3FxfKDM (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)