At their press conference on the third day of COP30 in Belém (Brazil) on Wednesday 12 November, EU representatives stressed the importance of parties to the Paris Agreement exchanging views on “the response to be given” to the aggregate targets in the new ‘nationally determined contributions’ (NDCs).
These NDCs set out the national ambitions for combating climate change up to 2035. The EU recently agreed - not without difficulty - on a greenhouse gas emissions reduction target of between 66.25% and 72.5% by 2035 (compared with 1990) (see EUROPE 13749/6).
Although parties were required to submit their NDCs by the end of September, 110 have done so to date, out of a total of almost 200.
An updated United Nations summary report reveals that, according to the plans submitted, global greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced by 12% below 2019 levels by 2035, which is still insufficient to limit the rise in global temperature to 1.5°C (https://aeur.eu/f/jdv - see EUROPE 13740/6).
For the EU, a key priority is to “secure a negotiated action plan to strengthen the collective level of action and ambition and the implementation of the NDCs”, as Maria Samuelsen, chief negotiator for Denmark, which holds the Presidency of the EU Council, explained.
However, it is necessary to ensure that this response doesn’t alter the “architecture“ of the Paris Agreement, warned Jacob Werksman, principal adviser to the European Commission on the international aspects of the EU’s climate policy.
“Instead, we think it’s important that this process sends out a signal: despite the progress, there is still a significant lack of ambition, and that requires a response”, he explained.
Climate finance. Maria Samuelsen also indicated that more needed to be done to meet the climate financing target, agreed at COP29 in Baku, which aims to mobilise at least $300 billion per year by 2035 for developing countries (see EUROPE 13739/5).
“In 2024, the EU provided €31.8 billion in public climate funding and mobilised €11 billion in private funding”, she said, pointing out that the EU was the biggest contributor to date. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)