Final Declaration of COP30 in Belém
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Peter Liese: Donald Trump has not succeeded in destroying the international process / The EU had to swallow a few bitter pills, but setbacks were prevented and slight progress was achieved
“The most important thing is that Donald Trump has not succeeded in destroying the international process, unlike other international processes (e.g. the World Shipping Organisation). I am very relieved about that. The world is moving on, and I hope that the U.S.-Americans will be back at the table sooner or later. Trump may already be weakened by the midterm elections in November to such an extent that he will at least no longer be able to exert a negative influence on international negotiations. I hope that a new U.S. president will then return to the international work against climate change. As a colleague from the European Parliament said: ‘America will be late again’,” commented Peter Liese, climate policy spokesperson for the largest group in the European Parliament (EPP, Christian Democrats), on the outcome of COP30 in Belém.
Environment Committee of the European Parliament adopts compromise on 2040 target / Essentially Council text with two changes
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Peter Liese: The Council text contains significant concessions on both sides, but we must now work together in the middle / Improvements needed on the quality of international certificates / Under no circumstances should the Climate Law strengthen our strategic competitors such as China
The Environment Committee of the European Parliament has adopted by a large majority (55 to 32) an amendment to the Climate Law concerning the 2040 target. The Members of the European Parliament essentially endorsed the proposal agreed by the Environment Ministers last Wednesday, with two notable modifications. MEPs insist that certificates from third countries recognised for European climate protection must be of high quality and that related financial flows must not contradict the strategic interests of the EU.
European Parliament adopts 2040 target
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Peter Liese: Happy that compromise passed / Important improvements
“I am very happy that the compromise passed,” said Peter Liese, climate policy spokesperson of the biggest group in the European Parliament (EPP, Christian Democrats). On Thursday, the European Parliament adopted its position on the climate target for 2040 with a clear majority.
Begin of the Climate Conference in Belem
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Europe must stand together on climate protection and not hide its light / European Parliament likely to adopt compromise on climate targets with improvements on Thursday
“We must now stand together in Europe and not hide our light,” said Dr. Peter Liese, climate policy spokesman for the largest political group in the European Parliament (EPP, Christian Democrats), at the start of the UN Climate Change Conference in Belem. “Admittedly, it took too long for the EU to agree on future climate targets. The compromise reached by the environment ministers is not perfect, but we will achieve nothing for global climate protection if we now nitpick at the compromise and hide our light. The European Union's targets and concrete policies are still very ambitious,” Liese emphasized. As an example, he drew a comparison with Japan's 2035 target: “Japan has met the UN deadline but has set a very weak target of 60% by 2035. Even though I would have liked Europe to agree on 72.5%, as the European Parliament wanted, the range of 66 to 72% is still ambitious. In contrast, China's reduction target of 7-10% is very weak. This is particularly true when you consider that China already has higher per capita emissions than the EU.”