More Ambitious EU 2030 Climate Target Needed Say the UK, Germany, and Luxembourg

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Environment ministers from the UK, Germany, and Luxembourg have called on the European Commission to increase Europeโ€™s 2030 climate target to match commitments agreed under the Paris deal in December.

Ministers from 10 different countries criticised the Commissionโ€™s failure to seek a stronger target in light of the new climate deal during a meeting in Brussels on 4 March to discuss the EUโ€™s next steps after the COP21 climate summit.

Austria, Belgium, Portugal, France, Sweden, Greece, and Denmark have all joined in supporting a more ambitious EU climateย target.

โ€œThe current level of commitments under the Paris deal is not enough to meet the global goal of well below 2ยฐC,โ€ said the UKโ€™s Lord Nick Bourne, parliamentary under-secretary for the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

โ€œThe EU must therefore continue its climate leadership role and maintain the momentum that we created in Paris,โ€ Bourne told the Commission.

Joรฃo Pedro Matos Fernandes, the Portuguese minister, said: โ€œWe cannot encourage others to play an ambitious role if we do not do it ourselves.โ€

Climate Assessment

The call for a more ambitious target by environment ministers comes after the Commission released its assessment of the implications of the Paris climate deal last Wednesday.

In Paris, the EU joined more than 70 other countries to form the โ€˜high ambition coalitionโ€™ which pushed for a stronger goal of limiting warming to โ€œwell belowโ€ 2ยฐC, with the aim of limiting average global temperature increase to just 1.5ยฐC.

However, in its assessment published last week the Commission concluded that its current targets are adequate and that a review of its 2030 carbon target is not needed to meet medium-term goals.

Currently, the EUโ€™s target is to cut carbon emissions by โ€œat leastโ€ 40 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. This is based on a 2ยฐCย warming scenario.

The Commission has also postponed any discussion to set new post-2030 targets until 2023.

โ€œWe regret that the Commissionโ€™s Communication is weak on the target of cutting at least 40 percent of emissions by 2030,โ€ said Jochen Flasbarth, the German minister, noting that references to โ€œat leastโ€ had disappeared in the Commissionโ€™s assessment and describing it as โ€œvery weakโ€ on that point.

This was echoed by Austriaโ€™s environment minister Andra Rupprechter who said โ€œwe would have expected more in a way of ambition.โ€

Donโ€™t Waste Time

Sรฉgolรจne Royal, French environment minister and chair of COP 21, stressed the importance of quickly ratifying the Agreement after the signing ceremony in New York on 22 April.
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Royal (pictured) later tweeted that โ€œwe should not limit our ambition to the goal of 2ยฐC but to 1.5ยฐC.โ€

And Luxemburgโ€™s environment minister Carole Dieschbourg, who was one of Europeโ€™s lead negotiators in Paris, called for the 2030 framework to be updated as soon as possible.

โ€œWe mustnโ€™t waste time,โ€ she said. โ€œWe might find that our credibility is undermined if we donโ€™t do this.โ€

Calls for the EU to update its long-term strategy by 2018 and deliver a vision post-2030 were also made by ministers from Belgium and Finland.

But not everyone was in favour of stepping up efforts to tackle climate change.

Ministers from the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Italy, Hungary, and Latvia said there was no need to increase the EUโ€™s 2030 targets.

Commenting later on the meeting, Germanโ€™ys Flasbarth said: โ€œThe EU always said it would increase climate ambition if COP21 was a success. Paris was a success, so now keep the promise.โ€
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Kyla is a freelance writer and editor with work appearing in the New York Times, National Geographic, HuffPost, Mother Jones, and Outside. She is also a member of the Society for Environmental Journalists.

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