On 3 December, the European Parliament and the Council have submitted their responses on the appeal of the legal action challenging the EU’s 2030 climate target. Despite the political momentum in the EU to increase the 2030 climate target, both institutions argue that the families and the Sami youth who are affected by the climate crisis shouldn’t be heard in European courts. Now, plaintiffs will write the Court to request permission to answer the EU Institutions.
Under the Paris Agreement, all countries are required to update their 2030 climate pledges next year, latest by the UN Climate Conference, COP26 which is taking place in Glasgow in November 2020. Current pledges, including the EU’s shockingly low -40% emission reduction target for 2030, will – if fully implemented – lead to a world 3.2°C warmer than pre-industrial levels, according to the recent UNEP Emissions Gap Report[1].
Plans by Bosnia and Herzegovina to push forward with ill-conceived Tuzla 7 coal-fired thermal power plant project received a surprising boost this week with the announcement of financing for the project being made available by banking consortium led by Slovenia’s NLB Bank (1).
Today, EU energy ministers have discussed sector integration as well as the state of play of the National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs). Continued reliance on fossil gas and the fact that the plans are still falling short of climate ambition flies in the face of the European Parliament acting “Climate Emergency” last week.
A new report by the European Environment Agency launched today shows that the EU needs to translate commitments into urgent action to slash greenhouse gas emissions at the scale needed to prevent even more dangerous climate change.
The UN Climate Change Conference COP25 in Madrid started with a big push from the least developed countries and the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to increase countries’ 2030 climate pledges. In the first High Level session of COP 25, countries were expected to present plans to increase ambition by 2020, the deadline set by the Paris Agreement to deliver more ambitious plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
In the draft concept for the European Green Deal leaked to the media yesterday, the new European Commission pledges to propose an increase of the EU 2030 climate target, but only in October 2020, which is far too late. This would mean that the EU would miss the Paris Agreement deadline for increasing targets in 2020.
At a plenary session held today, the European Parliament declared climate emergency and called upon EU decision makers to take action accordingly, but did little to advance real change.
By the end of the year, EU countries will have to submit their final National Energy and Climate Plans to present how they will contribute to the EU’s 2030 climate and energy targets. A new report released today indicates how much progress has been made since the European Commission published its recommendations on each Member State’s draft NECP. Despite some improvements, Member States need to do more in the next month to ensure that they at least meet the EU’s 2030 objectives, let alone the objectives of the Paris Agreement.
Speaking at the European Parliament on the occasion of the approval of her Commission, the new Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen reiterated that the fight against climate change will be one of her main policy priorities.
Nicolas Derobert
Communications Coordinator
nicolas /at/ caneurope.org
Work: +32 2894 4673
Mobile: +32 483 621 888
Stevan Vujasinović
Communications Coordinator for Southeast Europe
stevan /at/ caneurope.org
Mobile: +381 (0)63 390 218
Goksen Sahin
Communications Coordinator
goksen /at/ caneurope.org
Work: +32 2893 0827
Mobile: +32 468 453 920
