Panorama – “The European Union played a major role in Sharm El-Sig”

The European Commission – they explained in Brussels – acted with ambition and flexibility to stay within reach of the target of limiting global warming to 1.5°C. “After a difficult week of negotiations, a strong and unified European effort – as they say from the Commission – has resulted in a difficult agreement to keep alive the goals of the Paris Agreement.” The Commission is also proud of the EU’s mediation work, which has helped establish “new balanced financing mechanisms, with a broader donor base, to help vulnerable communities deal with loss and damage from climate change.”

In terms of mitigation, the parties agreed that limiting global warming to 1.5°C required rapid, deep and sustainable reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions, which would need to be reduced by 43% by 2030 compared to their level in 2019. They also recognized that this calls for Accelerate action on this crucial decade, and reiterate the Glasgow Climate Charter’s call for NDCs to be updated as necessary to align with the 2019 Paris Agreement temperature target, no later than the end of 2023. He emphasized that the Glasgow Climate Charter would guide a new program of work on mitigation to encourage Parties to coordinate their goals and measures towards the goal of net zero emissions.

With regard to losses and damages, the Parties decided to establish new financing mechanisms to assist developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of climate change. This includes a new fund focused on dealing with losses and damages, which is being set up by a transition committee that will also look at expanding funding sources.

Acting Vice President
The final results of COP 27 – obtained from the European Commission – complement the “many bilateral and multilateral agreements” reached by the Commission in the past two weeks. President von der Leyen participated in the Leaders’ Summit at the start of the 27th Congress and signed partnerships with Kazakhstan On raw materials, batteries and renewable hydrogen And with Namibia on sustainable raw materials and renewable hydrogen.

He also announced with Egyptian President Al-Sisi a A strategic partnership in the field of renewable hydrogensigned by Timmermans Executive Vice President and Commissioner Kadri Simson (photo).

He also fired President von der Leyen Forest and Climate Partnerships with Congo, Guyana, Mongolia, Zambia and Uganda. The importance of nature to the interdependent climate crises and biodiversity will be a key component of the upcoming COP15 Conference on Biodiversity, which will take place in Montreal, Canada, in December.

At an event to assess global commitment to reducing methane emissions launched by the European Union and the United States a year ago, Executive Vice President Timmermans welcomed the growing support for the initiative, which is now backed by more than 150 countries.

Timmermans also announced a new initiative by Team Europe to provide financing in excess of €1 billion to help Africa adapt to climate change.

During the 27th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP), the EU also welcomed and endorsed South Africa’s Just Energy Transition Investment Plan and signed a new Partnership for a Fair Energy Transition with Indonesia at the G20 in Bali.

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission: “The science clearly states that more is needed to keep the planet habitable. What is equally clear is that the European Union played a key role in Sharm El Sig and will not relent in its domestic and international climate work. I thank Executive Vice President Timmermans and the negotiating team We have to work around the clock to unlock difficult conversations and prevent the summit process from collapsing, which will remain crucial, and enable our negotiating team to build confidence among our trading partners in mitigation and demonstrate resilience in financing losses and damages from climate change.”

The European Commission sets the context
During the two-week conference, the European Commission organized more than 125 side business, both at the EU Pavilion at Sharm Sage and online, on issues such as biodiversity protection and nature restoration, energy security and ecological transition, sustainable finance, food and water security, research and innovation. Among them was a Dialogue between EVP Timmermans and Youth from all over the world.

In the 2015 Paris Agreement, 194 countries agreed to make Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which represent their individual emissions reduction targets. Combined, these NDCs should contribute to keeping average global temperature change below 2°C and as close as possible to a maximum of +1.5°C by the end of this century.

“The 2022 reports of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (GIECC) warn that the world will reach +1.5°C in the next two decades and that only by immediately adopting the most radical reductions in carbon emissions can an environmental catastrophe be prevented. . This level of warming will have extremely harmful effects that pose an existential challenge»

The European Union leads the world on climate action, having already cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than a quarter from 1990 levels, while its economy has grown by more than 60%. with the European Green Dealintroduced in December 2019, the European Union has increased its climate ambition level by committing to achieving climate neutrality by 2050. This target has become legally binding to adopt and enter into force. European climate law in July 2021.

European climate law also sets an intermediate target to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 by at least 55% compared to 1990 levels. This target for 2030 is communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in December 2020 as the European Union’s Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement.

In 2021, the European Union filed a proposal package To adapt its policies on climate, energy, land use, transport and taxation in order to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030. The EU will update its Nationally Determined Contributions, as appropriate, as soon as possible after all. These proposals were adopted.

The European Commission considers climate finance “essential to help vulnerable communities protect themselves from the effects of climate change and to support sustainable economic growth.”

Developed countries – we recall from the Commission – have committed, between 2020 and 2025, to mobilize a total of $100,000 million annually in international financing, intended to combat climate change, to assist the most vulnerable countries and small island states, in particular, in their mitigation and adaptation efforts. Climate change.

The European Union is biggest benefactorwith an ever-increasing contribution, which corresponds to approximately a quarter of the amount set as the target.

more information
• Statement by President Ursula von der Leyen on the outcome of COP 27 (In English)

• Statement at the closing plenary by the Executive Vice President in charge of the European Green Deal, Frans Timmermans (In English)

• Questions and answers about the European Union at COP27

• European Union at CoP27 Side Events Programme

• Fact sheet on Team Europe’s contribution to climate finance