The EU Member States would like to see greenhouse gas emissions decrease by 40 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, a 40 percent energy-efficiency target, a 30 percent target for renewable energy by 2030, as well as increase climate finance commitments at the COP21 UN climate conference in Paris. Moreover, Brussels thinks that a part of the revenues from the EU’s carbon market allowances ought to be earmarked for climate finance. The EU would like to also see shipping and aviation sectors introduce measures to eliminate emissions by the end of next year.
Gilles Pargneaux, a French MEP, commented “we are facing the fight of the century. If we do not succeed in preventing global warming from exceeding 2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century we will see many more droughts, floods, melting glaciers and the disappearance of more and more farmland. Climate change will also be a factor in increasing the migration problem”.
Mr. Pargneaux also added that “the financial issue is and will be the cornerstone of an agreement in Paris. This is why we are calling for a clear roadmap from the Member States so that we know how to finance the green fund from 2020. Fixing a carbon price at global level would also help to ensure that the least-polluting technologies are the most attractive to investors”. The resolution seeks a general revival of the EU’s climate policy, which would be consistent with the upper limit of the EU’s commitment to decrease its greenhouse gas emissions to 80-95 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.
