The Council sets out EU position for UN climate conference in Santiago de Chile (COP25)
The Council today adopted conclusions on EU preparations for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meetings in Santiago de Chile (2-13 December 2019).
The UN Climate Action Summit last week helped bring the issue of climate change to political attention and public scrutiny. The Council stresses that it is now even more important both to work hard to make COP25 a success and deliver concrete results.
The EU’s priorities for the upcoming negotiations in Santiago include:
- completing the implementation guidelines for the voluntary cooperation mechanism of the Paris Agreement (article 6),
- completing the second review of the Warsaw International Mechanism for loss and damage,
- completing the review of the Lima work programme on gender, and
- advancing technical work on the arrangements under the Enhanced Transparency Framework.
The conclusions outline the EU’s position on these objectives, and deliver a strong political message on the urgent need for enhanced global action, the EU’s firm commitment to the multilateral process and its level of ambition.
The Council expresses its deep concern at the increasing impact of climate change on the deterioration of global biodiversity and the world’s water resources and ecosystems, and at UN reports confirming that Nationally Determined Contributions submitted by parties and current greenhouse gas emission (GHG) trajectories fall far short of what is required to achieve the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement. It recognises the strong calls by civil society and citizens, especially youth, for enhanced action and ambition.
The Council reiterates the importance of stepping up global climate action. It highlights that the EU continues to successfully decouple its economic growth from its emissions – from 1990 to 2017 the EU’s economy grew by 58%, while total GHG emissions decreased by 22%. The EU and its member states are therefore set to overachieve the goal of a 20% GHG reduction domestically by 2020 with existing policies under the EU 2020 climate and energy package.
In 2014 the EU committed itself to reducing domestic GHG emissions by at least 40% by 2030, compared with 1990 levels, as its contribution to the Paris Agreement. The EU is the first major economy in the world to take the lead in the green transition and to show the way on implementation of the Paris Agreement by already having in place an ambitious, binding, legislative framework to deliver on its commitment.
The EU 2030 renewable energy target has been set at at least 32% and energy efficiency target at at least 32.5%, supported by a reliable governance system. These targets lead to greater greenhouse gas emission reductions than previously foreseen.
The EU is currently discussing how to achieve climate neutrality. The Council highlights the importance of the broad, inclusive and extensive societal debate across the EU and its member states.
In its conclusions, the Council looks forward to the European Council finalising its guidance on the EU’s climate neutral vision before the end of 2019 with a view to the adoption and submission of the EU’s long-term strategy to the UNFCCC in early 2020. It calls also on other parties to the Paris Agreement to submit their long-term strategies in line with the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement by 2020.
