In Luxembourg on Monday 24 October, the Environment Ministers of the European Union Member States unanimously adopted EU Council conclusions on the EU’s preparations for the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27).
Ministers found it difficult to agree on two points in the text in particular: Paragraph 11 on updating the ‘nationally determined contributions’ (NDCs) of the EU and its Member States - non-binding national plans setting out the individual actions planned by each party to the Paris Agreement to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions - and Paragraph 13 on phasing out coal.
With regard to the former, the final text states that the EU Council is ready to update the NDCs to reflect how the final outcome of the key elements of the ‘Fit for 55’ package (the EU’s climate legislation package currently being adopted) implements the Union’s 2050 climate neutrality objective. This update would therefore take place “as soon as possible after the conclusion of the negotiations (on the ‘Fit for 55’ package)”, the Paragraph states.
The conclusions also encourage all parties at COP27 to “underpin their NDCs with robust national policy frameworks and actions” and to increase their short- and long-term ambitions, particularly the major economies, so that the goal of limiting the average global temperature rise to 1.5°C remains achievable.
With regard to Paragraph 13, the text adopted by the ministers “reaffirms the continued commitment of the EU and its Member States to the Glasgow Climate Pact, which calls on parties to accelerate their energy transition”, including “by phasing out electricity generation from coal-fired power plants not coupled with carbon capture and storage technologies (and) by phasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies”.
The EU Council further calls on all countries to end all new direct public support to the international fossil fuel sector, except in circumstances which are limited and clearly defined by each country, by the end of 2022, in line with the commitment made by the G7 countries.
Supporting developing countries
While the European Commission estimates that the total amount of public climate finance mobilised collectively by the EU and its Member States in 2021 is around €23.04 billion, the conclusions reaffirm their commitment to continue to increase their international financing so as to meet the developed country goal of jointly mobilising at least $100 billion a year, as soon as possible and by 2025 at the latest, in order to help developing countries deal with climate change.
Given the delay since 2020 (see EUROPE 12793/3), the EU Council “expects this target to be met in 2023” and calls on other donors to “step up their efforts”.
The EU Council had already adopted specific conclusions on the issue of climate finance on 4 October (see EUROPE 13035/22).
Recognising the need to strengthen support for vulnerable countries, populations and groups, the conclusions underline the EU Council’s readiness to “engage constructively with partner countries to better understand their needs (...) and provide concrete solutions”, including through the addition of a new agenda item that would make full use of the Glasgow dialogue. Launched at COP26, this initiative aims to discuss how to finance activities to prevent, minimise and address loss and damage from climate change.
COP27 will be held in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, from 6 to 18 November.
See the conclusions: https://aeur.eu/f/3ru (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)