Last Friday, the European Union has submitted its formal promise on greenhouse gases cuts to the United Nations ahead of the climate change talks starting in December.
As the first major economy to agree its position, the EU called on the US and China to follow its lead, in order to ensure a successful outcome of the UN climate summit; an effective, legally binding global climate change agreement with emission reduction commitments from all countries.
“We expect China, the United States and the other G20 countries in particular to follow the European Union and submit their contributions by the end of March,” Miguel Arias Cańete, EU Commissioner for Climate and Energy, told reporters after a meeting of EU environment ministers in Brussels.
According to the US-China climate agreement from last November, the United States has pledged to cut its emissions to 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2025, and China, the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, announced to cap emissions by 2030 or earlier if possible.
French Energy Minister Segolene Royal commented on the European agreement which had to reached by March 20 at the latest: “A very important step was taken today. This is a decisive, historic stage.”
She also said that Europe was taking up its responsibilities as host of the 2015 Paris climate conference.
The EU’s official contribution is a target of an at least 40 percent cut in emissions by 2030 compared to 1990s levels.
For the complete article, please see Global Call for Climate Action.
The European Green Deal has made the environment and climate change the focus of EU action. Indeed, climate change impacts are already increasing the pressure on states and societies; however, it is not yet clear how the EU can engage on climate security and environmental peacemaking. In this light, and in the run-up to the German EU Council Presidency, adelphi and its partners are organising a roundtable series on “Climate, environment, peace: Priorities for EU external action in the decade ahead”.
In January 2020, the German Federal Foreign Office launched Green Central Asia, a regional initiative on climate and security in Central Asia and Afghanistan. The aim of the initiative is to support a dialogue in the region on climate change and associated risks in order to foster regional integration between the six countries involved.
Climate change will shift key coordinates of foreign policy in the coming years and decades. Even now, climate policy is more than just environment policy; it has long since arrived at the centre of foreign policy. The German Foreign Office recently released a report on climate diplomacy recognizing the biggest challenges to security posed by climate change and highlighting fields of action for strengthening international climate diplomacy.
A high-level ministerial conference in Berlin is looking at the impact of climate change on regional security in Central Asia. The aim is to foster stronger regional cooperation, improve the exchange of information and form connections with academia and civil society.