MEPs call for urgent action on climate change

Today, a cross-party majority of Members of the European Parliament passed the resolution ahead of the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP27, in Sharm El Sheik. The resolution calls for world leaders to increase their climate pledges, for a loss and damage facility, and for  $100 billion in climate finance to be paid by the end of this year to countries and regions most affected by climate change.

The members of the European Parliament also call on the EU to increase its climate targets with concrete binding measures to limit global warming to a maximum of 1.5 degrees, and for a treaty on the non-proliferation of fossil fuels. The Greens/EFA successfully called for the resolution to include demands for the release of political prisoners in Egypt , freedom for civil society and  special attention to the gender impact of climate change.

Pär Holmgren MEP, Greens/EFA rapporteur on the resolution for the UN Climate Change Conference 2022 in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt (COP27), comments:

“We are already facing irreversible consequences from climate change, and the most vulnerable populations in the world are paying the price. For decades now, small island nations and countries worst affected have been forced to fight for a just transition and fair compensation for the enormous loss and damages that we, the developed countries, have caused their societies. We need climate justice now.

“At COP27, the world leaders need to deliver. They should already have made good on their promises to increase their climate targets and deliver more climate financing. This cannot wait any longer. It is time for the EU to firmly stand behind the establishment of a Loss and Damage Finance Facility at COP27 and to push for Loss and Damage to be a permanent agenda item at future UN climate conferences.” 

Bas Eickhout MEP, Greens/EFA coordinator of the Environment committee and Head of the European Parliaments COP27-delegation, comments: 

"At COP27 we urgently need to make progress on the subject of loss and damage: therefore we call for additional sources of financing to address the adverse effects of climate change. Such a mechanism would ensure that the costs of climate change are distributed more fairly, that developing countries have access to resources to tackle climate change, and that richer countries pay for the climate damage they’re causing elsewhere. The current floods in Pakistan make the need for such a mechanism painfully clear.The country has barely contributed to climate pollution, but it is paying the price for the damage caused by others.”