The European Parliament adopted the resolution on the 2018 UN Climate Change Conference in Katowice, Poland.
Climate change, as a cause and multiplier of other risks, is one of the most pressing challenges facing humanity, and that all states and players worldwide need to do their utmost to fight it through strong individual action.
While recognising the achievement of the COP22 and COP23 Presidencies in jointly preparing the design of the 2018 Talanoa Dialogue which was broadly approved by the Parties involved and launched in January 2018, Parliament looks forward to its first results during COP24 in Katowice and the political conclusions thereafter to bring global collective ambition into line with the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement by 2020.
Parliament underlined the importance of the EU speaking with a single and unified voice at COP24 in Katowice in order to ensure its political power and credibility. It called on the Commission and the Member States to bring climate action on to the agenda of important international fora within the UN, and of bodies such as the G7 and G20, and to seek multilateral partnerships on specific issues concerning the implementation of the Paris Agreement and of the sustainable development goals.
Paris Agreement ratification and implementation of commitments: Parliament welcomed the unprecedented pace of ratification of the Paris Agreement. However, it stressed that current nationally determined contributions (NDCs) would only limit global warming to a temperature rise of about 3.2°C and would not even come close to 2°C. Therefore, it called on all Parties to contribute constructively to the process to be put in place towards 2020 when NDCs need to be updated and to ensure that their NDCs are in line with the long-term temperature goal of the Paris Agreement to keep the global temperature rise to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and to pursue efforts to limit the increase even further to 1.5ºC.
Parliament also considered that, should other major economies fail to make commitments comparable with those of the EU on GHG emission reductions, it will be necessary to maintain carbon leakage provisions, particularly those aimed at sectors with a high carbon leakage risk, in order to ensure the global competitiveness of European industry.
It regretted that in most third countries which have made commitments under the Paris Agreement the debate on increasing their contributions is starting only very slowly and asked therefore that the Commission streamline the EU’s considerations on increasing its commitment, with stronger efforts to motivate other partners to do the same.
Targets: Parliament stressed the importance of an ambitious climate policy for the EU to act as a credible and reliable partner globally, of maintaining the EU’s global climate leadership, and of adherence to the Paris Agreement. It welcomed the agreement by the European Parliament and the Council to raise the targets for renewables and energy efficiency to 32 % and 32.5 % respectively by 2030, which will result in GHG emission reductions of over 45 % by 2030. It called on the Commission to prepare, by the end of 2018, an ambitious mid-century zero emissions strategy for the EU, providing a cost-efficient pathway towards reaching the net-zero emissions goal adopted in the Paris Agreement and a net-zero carbon economy in the Union by 2050 at the latest, in line with a Union fair share of the remaining global carbon budget. Members supported an update of the Union’s nationally determined contribution with an economy-wide target of 55 % domestic GHG emission reductions by 2030 compared with 1990 levels.
Financing: Parliament stressed that the EU’s budget should be consistent with its international commitments on sustainable development and with its mid- and long-term climate and energy targets, and should not be counterproductive to these targets or hamper their implementation. It noted with concern that the target of 20 % of total EU spending dedicated to climate action is likely to be missed and called therefore for corrective action.
It underlined further that climate and energy targets should be at the heart of the political discussions on the post-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) from the outset in order to ensure that the resources required to achieve them will be in place. Members recalled their position to increase current climate-related spending from 20 % to 30 % as soon as possible and at the latest by 2027 and considered that all remaining MFF spending should be Paris-compliant and not counterproductive to climate efforts.
The resolution called for the establishment of a dedicated and automatic EU public finance mechanism that provides additional and adequate support towards delivering the EU’s fair share of the USD 100 billion international climate finance goal.
Role of the European Parliament: Parliament stated that since it must give its consent to international agreements and plays a central role in the domestic implementation of the Paris Agreement as co-legislator, that it needs to be well integrated into the EU delegation. It expects, therefore, to be allowed to attend EU coordination meetings in Katowice and to be guaranteed access to all preparatory documents from the moment negotiations begin.