The European Union will concentrate on translating ambition into action in reducing CO2 emissions and will work with its international partners to fight climate change, EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson said after meeting with Alok Sharma, the president of the COP26 climate conference due to be held in Glasgow in November this year.
“By COP26 in November, we need climate neutrality pledges from all countries, particularly the G20. The EU has an ambitious 55% GHG reduction target by 2030 and is committed to take up the work on energy transition,” Simson tweeted on February 26.
Sharma also met with Commission Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans and Commissioners Virginijus Sinkevičius and Mairead McGuinness in Brussels on February 26.
“Really good to welcome Alok Sharma to Brussels today. Our outreach to partners across the world will intensify over the months to come. If we unleash a RaceToZero, COP26 can become a tipping point for climate action and we can safeguard humanity’s future,” Timmerman wrote in a tweet.
In line with the Paris Agreement, the EU submitted an ambitious new Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the UNFCCC secretariat in December, committing to an at least 55% net greenhouse gas emissions reduction by 2030, compared to 1990 levels. This objective sets the EU on a balanced and realistic pathway towards climate neutrality in 2050, the Commission said in a press release.
Following the EU’s leadership, governments around the world have made a number of important announcements to boost the fight against climate change in recent months, and with the US re-joining the Paris Agreement a new international momentum for climate action is an encouraging signal for COP26.
The Commission said it is committed to working closely with the COP26 Presidency and all of its international partners to make this crucial year a tipping point for climate action, the energy transition and for nature.
“The Commission will make legislative proposals in June 2021 to implement its new climate and energy targets in our ‘Fit for 55′ Package, showcasing again to our international partners how the European Green Deal is both a climate strategy and a growth strategy,” the press release read, adding, “We will also present new proposals in the course of 2021 to promote sustainable finance and to embark in nature restoration and reverse biodiversity loss, as essential pillars of tackling the climate crisis”.
