The Vice President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, announced on Tuesday that the European Union will update the climate plan presented to the UN.
And the forecast is that the document will increase the cut in emissions planned for 2030 by two points compared to what is promised now.
At this time, the European Union has committed to reducing its greenhouse gases by 55% in 2030 compared to 1990 levels. Now, as Timmermans explained at the climate summit held in the Egyptian city of Sharm el Sheikh, This cut could rise to at least 57% thanks to the measures that Europe has adopted and plans to adopt.
The goals for 2030 are essential to achieve the ultimate goal, which is to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.
That is to say, that the European economy only emits greenhouse gases that can be absorbed by sinks (the clearest, forests).
These objectives are included in a European climate law, definitively approved in 2021. But the legislative package to comply with that law is currently being negotiated.
It is in this process that the possibility has arisen that Europe can raise its goal for 2030 to a 57% cut thanks to the measures that will be adopted, explained Timmermans.
Traditionally, the EU has claimed at these summits as one of the most ambitious regions in the fight against global warming by being able to present robust climate plans.
However, the invasion of Ukraine and the cut off of gas supplies from Russia have led several countries to increase the burning of coal, the fossil fuel that expels the most greenhouse gas emissions.
In addition, to make up for the Russian cut, several nations are signing agreements with African states to guarantee supply from other points.
Added to this are the subsidies that European States are giving, including Spain, for the consumption of fossil fuels.
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These policies have raised suspicions at the UN climate summit, especially among countries that have been required for years to move away from fossil fuels.
“Our trajectory to net zero emissions is clear, but we must recognize that some of this Russian gas needs to be replaced and our imports redirected,” Kadri Simson, the EU energy commissioner, admitted on Monday at a panel in Sharm el Sheikh. .
Faced with these contradictions, the representatives of the EU argue that these are only specific measures and that the general policy moves towards clean energy.
"We are massively accelerating the deployment of renewable energy," defended Ursula von der Leyen, president of the Commission, last week.
This Tuesday's announcement by Timmermans is part of this atmosphere of pressure towards Europe in the talks in Sharm el Sheikh.
In his speech before the plenary of this summit, the vice president defended the latest measures taken by the European Union, such as the agreement to veto the sale of new cars that emit carbon dioxide from 2035. "Europe is advancing, not going backwards ”, has defended the vice-president of the Commission.
"Don't let anyone tell you, here or abroad, that the EU is going backwards," Timmermans insisted.
In the process of negotiating the current 55% objective, the European Parliament, which is always more ambitious than the rest of the community institutions, asked that the goal be set at a 60% cut, always with respect to 1990 levels. And some environmental groups have criticized this Tuesday what they consider "crumbs of the EU."
Because they consider that the European Union should commit to a cut of at least 65%.
“This small increase announced today at COP27 does not do justice to the calls of the most vulnerable countries on the front lines,” said Chiara Martinelli, director of CAN Europe, a network of NGOs focused on climate issues.
But Timmermans' announcement is aimed primarily at countering criticism against the EU for the supposed setback in climate policy due to the war in Ukraine.
"Europe is staying the course, actually, we are even accelerating," said the vice-president of the Commission.
Along the same lines, the Spanish vice-president for Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, wanted to make it clear that the EU's "firm commitment" is to move towards decarbonisation, that is, to move away from fossil fuels.
And proof of this, in her opinion, are the different standards that are being approved to meet the emission reduction targets.
Last year, at the Glasgow summit, the final political declaration closed with a call to end public support for fossil fuels.
However, in the draft on the issues that must be addressed in the declaration of this COP27 that the presidency of the summit, in the hands of Egypt, has distributed, there is no mention of this matter.
Ribera has made it clear that many countries, including the EU bloc, are going to press for it to be included in that final text and not take "steps back."
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