Under the Paris Agreement, all countries are required to update their 2030 climate pledges next year, latest by the UN Climate Conference, COP26 which is taking place in Glasgow in November 2020. Current pledges, including the EU’s shockingly low -40% emission reduction target for 2030, will – if fully implemented – lead to a world 3.2°C warmer than pre-industrial levels, according to the recent UNEP Emissions Gap Report[1].
Plans by Bosnia and Herzegovina to push forward with ill-conceived Tuzla 7 coal-fired thermal power plant project received a surprising boost this week with the announcement of financing for the project being made available by banking consortium led by Slovenia’s NLB Bank (1).
A new report by the European Environment Agency launched today shows that the EU needs to translate commitments into urgent action to slash greenhouse gas emissions at the scale needed to prevent even more dangerous climate change.
Today, EU energy ministers have discussed sector integration as well as the state of play of the National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs). Continued reliance on fossil gas and the fact that the plans are still falling short of climate ambition flies in the face of the European Parliament acting “Climate Emergency” last week.
Read more: EU energy ministers must phase out fossil gas and improve their 2030 plans
The UN Climate Change Conference COP25 in Madrid started with a big push from the least developed countries and the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to increase countries’ 2030 climate pledges. In the first High Level session of COP 25, countries were expected to present plans to increase ambition by 2020, the deadline set by the Paris Agreement to deliver more ambitious plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Read more: COP 25: EU leaders are missing the Paris Agreement deadline