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STRASBOURG) – The EU must commit to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 at an upcoming UN Conference, the European Parliament said Thursday as it approved a resolution declaring a climate emergency in Europe and globally.
Ahead of the UN COP25 Climate Change Conference in Madrid 2-13 December – the last annual UN climate summit before governments must submit updated climate plans – a number of countries, local administrations and scientists have already declared that the planet is facing a climate emergency.
In the European Parliament resolution, MEPs say they also want the European Commission to ensure that all relevant EU legislative and budgetary proposals are fully aligned with the objective of limiting global warming to under 1.5 °C.
In a separate resolution, Parliament urges the EU to submit its strategy to reach climate neutrality as soon as possible, and by 2050 at the latest, to the UN Convention on Climate Change.
MEPs have also called on new Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to include a 55% reduction target of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 in the European Green Deal.
The Commission itself has proposed the goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, but the European Council has not yet endorsed it, in the face of opposition from Poland, Hungary and Czechia.
In their resolution, MEPs target current aviation and shipping ambitions as falling short of the necessary emissions reductions. All countries should include emissions from international shipping and aviation in their national contributions plans (NDCs), they say, and they urge the Commission to propose that the maritime sector be included in the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS).
On financial support for fighting climate change, MEPs said EU countries should at least double their contributions to the international Green Climate Fund.
EU member states are the largest providers of public climate finance, the Parliament says and the EU’s budget should fully comply with its international commitments. They also noted that pledges by developed countries do not meet the collective goal of 100 billion USD per year as of 2020.
Finally, the Parliament urgently calls on all EU countries to phase out all direct and indirect fossil fuel subsidies by 2020.
European Parliament: adopted resolutions will be available here (28.11.2019)
