Our demands for the COP24 negotiations

This December government leaders will gather in Katowice, Poland for the COP24 climate summit, where all countries of the world, including EU Member States, must commit to put forward higher 2030 climate targets by 2020. To stay below 1.5°C, as indicated in the landmark IPCC report, the EU needs to commit to significantly increase both its long-term and 2030 targets.

Three key topics will be debated:

1. The RULEBOOK - Even if it will be technical, agreeing a robust ‘rulebook’ for the Paris Agreement will be crucial as it represents the guidelines for how the global climate pact will be implemented. The compromise that needs to be found should be capable of ensuring that adequate action is taken to cut emissions, adapt to climate change, and address loss and damage. Additional rules to facilitate the smooth transfer of finance, technology and support for capacity building to LDCs and other developing countries will be equally critical to achieving our Paris goals.
    
2. GLOBAL STOCKTAKE - In Paris, countries have agreed to ramp up their climate pledges over time through the five-year review cycles. The first such review process, called the Talanoa Dialogue, has been running throughout 2018 and aims to take stock of the collective efforts towards achieving the Paris Agreement objectives. The challenge of this COP will be to send clear signals that nations will strengthen their climate commitments by 2020.
    
3. FINANCE - Cornerstone of the negotiation, it is a key topic to maintain trust by delivering adequate finance to developing countries to address climate change. Industrialized nations agreed to spend a total of $100 billion (€86 billion) per year — including funds and development aid — on climate protection in poorer countries. Developing countries want developed ones to ramp up their spending and report on the extent to which they have met their pledges every two years, so they can predict how much money is coming. It is a big issue of trust which is going on here (*)

This COP24 aims to turn the commitments made in that momentous accord into action, let us not miss this opportunity.

Our Green/EFA demands for the EU - TAKE THE LEADERSHIP BACK!
 

• The EU must act upon the warnings of the new IPCC report to keep our world to 1.5°C by massively increasing EU 2030 target
  
  By 2030, global emissions will need to be halved for us to have a decent chance to stay below 1.5°C. Given the EU needs to reduce emissions much faster than the rest of the world, its 2030 target must be increased even beyond the 55% reduction some Member States and the European Parliament are calling for. The EU also needs to adopt an action plan for this process, which should be finalized by EU Heads of State and Government before UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ Global Climate Summit set to take place in September 2019.

• The EU needs to lead the global effort and thus reduce emissions to net zero by 2050 at the latest.
  
  The IPCC report made it clear that staying below 1.5°C requires that global emissions drop to net zero by 2050 at the latest. The EU needs to lead the global effort and thus reduce emissions to net zero by 2050 at the latest. A commitment to much higher 2030 and long-term climate targets ate COP24 would be a clear sign of the much-needed climate leadership the EU needs to regain. Far from fulfilling its duties under the Paris Agreement, which obliges the EU to reduce emissions faster than other countries, the EU‘s recent emission trends do not reflect a true leadership role. Not only the EU’s target is still too weak to meet its Paris Agreement commitments, the EU’s emissions and energy consumption kept on rising three years in a row now.
   
• Defend green finance and push for the end of fossil fuels support
  
  Adequate climate finance is the cornerstone of effective climate policy. It is needed to realize the low-carbon transition in the global north and to put the global south on a low carbon development path. Governments must live up to their promise to mobilize USD 100 billion annually by 2020 and EU should lead the ambition.
  
  Today, investments in renewable energy are declining. Many EU Member States are failing to fulfil their climate and energy targets and bring about real change at home. To restore its role as a global climate leader, the EU needs both to significantly increase its climate targets for the future and accelerate current emission cuts. Stronger measures need to be taken to phase out coal, end public subsidies to fossil fuels and accelerate support to renewable energy development and efforts to reduce energy waste. To keep temperature rise to 1.5°C we need bold action and higher targets, not either or but at once.
   
• Be the voice of the pro climate society that flourish all over our territories and call for a just transition that makes bigger polluters pay first and leaves no one behind
  
  It is time for real leadership and urgent action, building on the clear momentum we are already seeing in our communities, societies and economies.  We should make sure that the big companies are actually paying for the damage they are causing to our climate and environment. A just transition is also one that leaves no one behind, gives security and perspectives to the citizens, workers and communities affected by the transition, and makes sure all parts of society reap the benefits of the transition, not only the happy few.