The EU27 environment and climate ministers will meet on Thursday 10 and Friday 11 July in Aalborg (Denmark) for an informal meeting under the Danish Presidency.
In the run-up to COP30, the meeting will open with a plenary session on preparations for the 30th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP30), to be held from 10 to 21 November in Belém (Brazil).
Climate objectives. The Danish Minister for Climate, Lars Aagaard, will chair this session, to which representatives of the future Brazilian Presidency-designate of COP30 will be invited, in order to define the EU’s political priorities to be included in the conclusions of the EU ‘Environment’ Council in October, ahead of the international negotiations.
The EU is expected to show leadership in its climate ambitions at the same time as the United States is moving away from them.
The Danish Presidency of the Council of the EU hopes to reach an agreement in the EU Council on the 2040 climate target, presented on 2 July (see EUROPE 13672/1), at an extraordinary ministerial meeting scheduled for 18 September. This agreement, which requires a qualified majority of Member States, will enable the EU to present its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), i.e. its climate commitment for 2035, before the COP.
The second day of informal ministerial meetings, on Friday 11 July, will open with a plenary session on European climate policy after 2030.
Once again, this session follows the expected presentation by the European Commission of its proposal to revise the ‘Climate Law’ (Regulation (EU) 2021/1119). The ministers will debate the means to be deployed to guarantee carbon neutrality by 2050, without penalising the EU’s competitiveness.
Environment and green transition. During the working lunch on Thursday 10 July, discussions will continue with a strategy session devoted to the state of the environment in Europe and the implementation of the 8th Environment Action Programme (see EUROPE 13434/8). Issues relating to air quality, soil pollution and the loss of biodiversity will be addressed under the leadership of the Danish Minister for the Environment, Magnus Heunicke. The European ministers will also be looking at what further action is needed to achieve the targets set for 2030.
In the afternoon, the Minister for Green Transition, Jeppe Bruus, will chair a session on the green transition in practice. Presentations on the Danish ‘Green Tripartite Agreement’ (https://aeur.eu/f/hs7 ), which brings together climate objectives, sustainable agriculture and nature protection, are planned.
A visit to the Store Vildmose nature reserve, a former peat bog area currently being restored, will also be organised to extend discussions on models for restoring European ecosystems.
A session devoted to the EU’s position in international negotiations on plastics will round off the two days. The ministers will work on the common position that will support a global treaty on plastic pollution in preparation for the second part of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5.2) (see EUROPE 13563/3), to be held in Geneva (Switzerland) from 5 to 14 August. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)