Resolution on the 2019 UN Climate Change Conference in Madrid, Spain (COP 25)
The European Parliament adopted by 430 votes to 190, with 34 abstentions, a resolution on the 2019 UN Climate Change Conference in Madrid, Spain (COP 25).
The resolution was tabled by the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and the EPP, S&D, Renew, Greens/EFA and GUE/NGL groups.
Parliament stated that climate change is one of the most important challenges facing humanity and that all states and players worldwide must do their utmost to fight it and that timely international cooperation, solidarity and a coherent and unwavering commitment to joint action is the only solution to fulfil our collective responsibility of safeguarding the entire planet.
Members stressed that, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) special report, in order to have a real chance of limiting global warming to 1.5°C by 2100 with no or limited exceedance, it is essential to achieve a zero level of net greenhouse gas emissions worldwide by 2067 at the latest and to reduce global annual greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 to a maximum of 27.4 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent per year.
An ambitious European climate policy
Members stressed the importance of the EU having an ambitious and inclusive climate policy in order to act as a credible and reliable partner on the global stage. They underlined the need, therefore, for the EU to invest and make significant advances in research and industrially applicable innovations.
Parliament expects the European Green Deal to set out a comprehensive and ambitious strategy for achieving a climate neutral Europe by 2050 at the latest, including the target of a 55 % reduction in domestic GHG emissions by 2030. It called on the Comission adapt all of its relevant policies accordingly, in particular those on climate, agriculture and cohesion and called for an update of the current nationally determined contribution (NDC) in order to achieve this objective.
Members also stressed the need to:
- implement all climate policies according to the principle of a just transition, in close cooperation with civil society and the social partners;
- define a new interim emission reduction target by 2040 in order to achieve greater market stability;
- further develop a reliable model to measure the climate consequences of consumption;
- develop a stronger international framework to protect global biodiversity.
Financing the fight against climate change
Parliament noted that the EU and its Member States together represent the largest provider of public funds to fight climate change, but is concerned that actual pledges made by developed countries remain well below the collective target of USD 100 billion per year from 2020. It expects emerging economies to make a contribution, from 2025 onwards, to the higher amount of international climate financing in the future.
The resolution stressed that the EU’s budget should be consistent with its international commitments on sustainable development and its mid- and long-term climate and energy targets. It called on the Commission, therefore, to ensure climate and biodiversity proofing of EU investments and to put forward harmonised and binding rules where applicable and to ensure that the next multiannual financial framework (MFF) is fully compliant with the Paris Agreement and that no spending should contravene it.
While stressing the importance of replenishing the Green Climate Fund, Members encouraged Member States to at least double their contributions for the initial resource mobilisation. They also welcomed the decision taken by the Board of Directors of the EIB to end financing for most fossil fuel energy projects from the end of 2021 and to gradually increase the share of its financing dedicated to climate action and environmental sustainability, to reach 50 % of its operations as of 2025.
Recalling the importance of a just transition, Parliament called on the Union and Member States to put in place appropriate policies and financing in this regard, contingent on clear, credible and enforceable short and longer term economy-wide decarbonisation commitments from the Member States concerned.
Members stressed the role of sustainable finance and considered it essential that the major international financial institutions swiftly adopt and develop green finance in order to bring about a successful decarbonisation of the global economy.
Comprehensive effort by all sectors
Parliament recalled that all sectors must contribute in order to achieve a climate-neutral economy and that the decarbonisation of the EU economy should not lead to a relocation of carbon emissions to third countries through carbon leakage.
Reiterating that the transport sector is the only sector in which emissions have risen since 1990, Members considered that all countries should include emissions from international aviation and maritime transport in their draft national energy climate plans (NECPs). They urged the Commission to propose to include the maritime sector in the European Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). They also urged all EU countries to phase out all direct and indirect fossil fuel subsidies by 2020.
Recalling that 23 % of global GHG emissions originate from agriculture, Members stressed that in order to ensure sufficient nutrition for a growing world population, investments in smart agricultural techniques and production methods are needed, as well as improving the efficiency of meat and dairy production methods.
The role of forests
Members noted that halting deforestation and forest degradation and allowing forests to regrow would constitute at least 30 % of all the mitigation action needed to limit global warming to 1.5 °C. They called on the EU and its Member States to honour their international commitments to promote the implementation of sustainable management of all types of forest, halt deforestation, restore degraded forests, and substantially increase afforestation and reforestation globally by 2020.