Greens/EFA demands for COP26
UN climate conference in Glasgow
These are the Greens/EFA’s demands for the COP26 in Glasgow:
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We have to keep the 1.5 pathway within reach. Most countries’ emissions are still rising – this trend needs to be reversed. All countries and all sectors must urgently raise their ambition. For the lives of the most affected, such as the Global South, but also big areas within Europe, the climate emergency is already here. They can’t afford failure, we can’t afford failure. The EU has a responsibility to lead the way.
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Raising ambition means ending the era of fossil fuels. All fossil fuel energy must remain in the past and in the ground. Phasing out coal, oil and gas energy sources must be a priority, as well as halting harmful financial flows, subsidies and investment to all fossil fuel projects. Also here, Europe has to lead by example.
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An agreement on 5-year common timeframes. We need to have short-term targets now. We can’t push our goals further into the future. Even within the EU, there are member states calling for longer time frames for reduction targets. We can no longer afford having only long-term goals as that just pushes necessary change further into the future.
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No double counting to ensure environmental integrity. Implementing Article 6 of the Paris Agreement should avoid all forms of double counting and ensure that no units issued under the Kyoto Protocol, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, can count towards existing and future nationally determined contributions. The rules also need to include guarantees for the protection of human rights.
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Damage will be done – we need a climate safety net. Even if we reduce emissions, some negative impacts will remain unavoidable. Both political space and additional finance streams need to align to support developing countries and the challenges they will face under the aims of the Santiago Network on Loss and Damage.
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For the world to fight climate change we need to align financial flows. Read Greens/EFA MEP Bas Eickhout’s opinion on why green finance matters here.
