On 1-2 June, the EU and China will hold a high-profile summit, with climate at the forefront of the agenda. The two partners are expected to reaffirm their unequivocal commitment to the implementation of the Paris Agreement and to spearhead cooperation on the clean energy transition.
Ahead of the summit, Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe organized a press briefing. Our speakers talked about the state of play of the global climate diplomacy and the crunch issues that must be tackled in order to secure a meaningful outcome of the meeting.
You can listen to the audio recording here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7IBBa_Xro6YNjBUMUYxaWlDMjg
Wendel Trio, Director of Climate Action Network Europe said:
“The summit shows that climate protection is and will remain top priority in the international cooperation, no matter what the US administration does. The strengthened climate alliance between the EU and China should trigger more climate action. This will smooth the way for the two powers to ramp up their Paris climate pledges by 2020, when they are due to be resubmitted. Both are set to overachieve their targets and can afford to make an even bigger contribution.”
Li Shuo, Climate Policy Advisor of Greenpeace East Asia said:
“The rapid backlash of US climate action requires enhanced leadership from all other countries. At the upcoming EU-China Summit, Beijing and Brussels need to demonstrate they are putting new and collective leadership into concrete terms. If US-China climate cooperation gave birth to the Paris Agreement, now it is up to EU and China to defend and enhance it. By listening to, instead of talking across each other, the pair has the potential to become the new driver for international climate diplomacy. To demonstrate they can truly lead, both need to accelerate their domestic actions. Recognizing the overachievement of their respective international emission reduction targets and enhance their climate commitments is a good place to start.”
ENDS
Contacts:
Wendel Trio, CAN Europe Director, wendel@caneurope.org, +32 473 170 887
Ania Drazkiewicz, CAN Europe Communications Coordinator, ania@caneurope.org, +32 494 525 738
Notes:
Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe is Europe’s largest coalition working on climate and energy issues. With over 130 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.
