The European Parliament today confirmed its position for the UN Cop 31 climate talks taking place in Antalya, Turkey, next month, calling for an accelerated global phase-out of fossil fuels, increased climate finance, and stronger adaptation and loss-and-damage pledges.
The adopted text reconfirmed the negotiating mandate proposed by the parliament's environment committee for the summit taking place on 9-20 November.
The parliament retained the committee's call for the aviation sector to align with global climate goals. Members remain concerned by the "slow progress achieved by the International Civil Aviation Organization [Icao] in addressing emissions from international aviation". The ambition of Icao's Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (Corsia) should be increased to align with the Paris climate agreement's aim to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, the parliament said.
"Climate transition cannot simply be a debate about targets and emissions. It must be a debate about jobs, wages, more affordable energy, more competitive businesses, security and quality of life," said Portuguese member of parliament's centre-right EPP group and head of the parliament's 15-member Cop 31 delegation Lidia Pereira. Cop 31 cannot be another conference of promises but must focus on implementation, she said, while acknowledging the need to strengthen climate finance and adaptation.
Parliament repeated its call for EU member states not to include "fossil fuel lobbyists" in their national delegations to Cop 31.
Parliament also raised concerns about the risk of double counting under the new collective quantified goal on climate finance (NCQG), because of ambiguity over the types of funding that contribute to the goal.
And it wants high-quality standards to govern the use of international credits under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement to help the EU meet its 2040 target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 90pc. The bloc has agreed to allow up to 5pc of the target to be met using such credits.
"This Cop, like those before it, will be a failure as long as you continue to pursue an ideological agenda that cannot be implemented within the deadlines set by the Paris Agreement without massive deindustrialisation and serious social upheaval," said French far-right Patriots MEP Marie-Luce Brasier-Clain.
EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra criticised Brasier-Clain and other speakers, mostly from far-right and conservative groups, who expressed scepticism about climate action. Hoekstra also called for Europe and the international community to go further on electrification as a way out of Europe's energy crisis and competitiveness problems.
Dutch centre-left S&D member Mohammed Chahim questioned Hoekstra over commitments to cut global methane emissions by 30pc by 2030. "This parliament is discussing delaying action to reduce methane emissions — one of the most powerful greenhouse gases," Chahim said.
