At the UN Climate Summit in Bonn today the Dutch Climate Minister Erik Wiebes urged the EU to up its 2030 climate target from the current ‘at least’ 40% to 55%, bringing it closer to what is required to keep the Paris Agreement goals within reach and adding momentum to the UN climate talks expected to conclude tomorrow.
In reaction to the announcement from the Dutch government, Wendel Trio, Director of Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe said:
“The statement from the Dutch government gives us reasons for hope that the EU will put its full weight behind the fight against climate change and increase its weak Paris pledge following the next global climate summit in 2018. It is encouraging to see that more and more EU countries understand that the full implementation of the Paris Agreement requires the EU to commit to much deeper emission cuts than currently planned. Today’s announcement should trigger a discussion on revising and scaling up the EU’s climate pledge at the next meeting of the EU environment ministers in December.”
According to a report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) [1], national pledges on emission reduction by 2030, made by countries under the Paris Agreement, will only bring a third of what is needed to avoid worst impact of climate change.
ENDS
Contacts:
Ania Drazkiewicz, CAN Europe Communications Coordinator, ania@caneurope.org, +32 494 525 738
Notes:
[1] UN Environment, The Emissions Gap Report 2017, https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/22070/EGR_2017.pdf
Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe is Europe’s largest coalition working on climate and energy issues. With over 140 member organisations in more than 30 European countries – representing over 44 million citizens – CAN Europe works to prevent dangerous climate change and promote sustainable climate and energy policy in Europe.
