The Committee for regional development of the European Parliament has adopted its position on the Just Transition Fund. By allowing the fund to finance fossil gas, they set the Parliament up against the European Commission and the Council, while diverting away from earlier European Parliament’s decisions to end fossil fuel subsidies.
Both the European Commission and all EU Member States already decided to exclude all fossil fuels from the Just Transition Fund.
Markus Trilling, finance and subsidies policy coordinator at Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe said: “Pro-gas MEPs prevent carbon-intensive regions from moving towards climate neutrality. Investing in fossil gas today will result in locking the EU into fossil fuel dependency for decades, whereas the EU has to become climate neutral by 2040. This is also an economic dead-end that misses out on the great job creation potential that renewable energy and energy savings measures offer. The EU is in a profound economic crisis, and renewables and buildings renovation provide three times more jobs than any fossil fuel. Today’s vote is a triple loss for people, the economy, and the climate.”
Trilling added: “The European Parliament still has a possibility to become relevant in the debate when it will vote in Plenary on this file after summer. If the Parliament wants to be respected as a consistent body, MEPs will have to exclude all fossil fuels from the fund to stay in line with the climate emergency declaration they adopted last year.”
ENDS
Contact:
Nicolas Derobert, Head of communications, nicolas@caneurope.org, +32 483 62 18 88
Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe is Europe’s leading NGO coalition fighting dangerous climate change. With over 170 member organisations active in 38 European countries, representing over 1.500 NGOs and more than 47million citizens, CAN Europe promotes sustainable climate, energy and development policies throughout Europe.
