Europe's time to lead on climate action - EURACTIV

Europe’s time to lead on climate action - EURACTIV.com
By Cecilia Trasi., Giovanni Sgaravatti and Simone Tagliapietra Est. 6min 21-12-2023 Content-Type: Opinion Opinion Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the author/producer’s interpretation of facts and data. Speech at the High level event on Green Credit Initiative at the UN Climate Change Conference COP28 [Copyright: European Union] Euractiv is part of the Trust Project >>> Print Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram COP28 has come to an end, with its share of hope and disappointment. Yet, the European Union has a crucial role to play in global climate diplomacy in the coming year 2024, write Simone Tagliapietra, Giovanni Sgaravatti and Cecilia Trasi. Simone Tagliapietra is a Senior fellow at the European think tank Bruegel, a think tank devoted to policy research on economic issues. Giovanni Sgaravatti and Cecilia Trasi are respectively Energy and climate research analyst and Research analyst at Bruegel. The outcome of the latest United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) can be compared to a Rorschach test: interpretations seem to be shaped more by who is doing the interpreting than by the event itself. Nonetheless, it is safe to say that COP28 produced some achievements worth celebrating – if, that is, they are translated into effective action. The COP28 agreements First, the good news. COP28 produced, for the first time, a global consensus on “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems,” in order to “achieve net-zero [emissions] by 2050.” The conference thus established a shared vision for the future of the world’s energy systems. Perhaps even more significant, countries pledged to work together to triple the world’s installed renewables capacity by 2030, and to double the global average annual rate of energy-efficiency improvements every year until then. Yet another positive outcome was the operationalisation of the loss and damage fund agreed last year – a milestone in the quest for climate justice. The fossil-fuel sector’s inclusion in the event – while controversial – can also be viewed as a step in the right direction, since it reflects a recognition that those who have played the biggest role in causing climate change must be part of the solution. Where the final text falls short is in its calls to action. The frequent use of non-operational verbs like “recalls,” “notes,” and “welcomes” – rather than verbs describing concrete, observable actions – points to the abstract nature of the consensus. Moreover, there were some concessions to fossil-fuel producers: commitments to “phasing down unabated coal power” did not advance from COP26, and the agreement endorsed the use of carbon capture and storage and “transitional fuels,” such as gas, in the coming energy transition. Will the world manage to overcome the COP28 agreement’s weaknesses and build on its strengths? The answer depends, to a significant extent, on the European Union. The European leadership The EU has proven its aptitude for climate diplomacy. Both in the run-up to COP28, and during the negotiations in Dubai, it played a key role in catalysing momentum toward the adoption of targets for renewables and energy efficiency. Its behind-the-scenes efforts included deepening and leveraging its partnerships with climate-vulnerable countries; collaborating with COP28’s host, the United Arab Emirates, and its president, Sultan Al Jaber; and engaging with international institutions like the International Energy Agency and the International Renewable Energy Agency. As we head into 2024, no one is better equipped than the EU to lead the climate charge. One cannot reasonably expect the holder of next year’s COP presidency, Azerbaijan, to drive much bigger powers to set more ambitious targets. And the world’s most influential power, the United States, will be wrapped up in a presidential election campaign marked by deep polarisation, not least on the issue of climate change. It is thus up to the EU to take the lead in upholding climate multilateralism, promoting a new climate-finance architecture, and encouraging countries to increase the ambition of their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the 2015 Paris climate agreement. As European Climate Foundation CEO Laurence Tubiana has stressed, such efforts must start immediately. The future European imperatives The first imperative is to lead by example, first and foremost by keeping the European Green Deal at the top of the political agenda, even after the European Parliament elections in June. Of course, the EU will have to walk the talk, doing whatever it takes to ensure the policy package is duly implemented in the coming years. This includes, for example, creating a new EU Green Investment Plan that fills the financing gap left behind as the Next Generation EU pandemic-recovery fund is phased out. The second imperative is to mobilise a renewed global effort to increase climate finance for developing economies – an area where COP28 fell short. While we now have global targets for renewables and energy efficiency, it is not clear how the required clean-energy investments – an estimated $4.3 trillion per year by 2030 – will be funded. And while global adaptation finance has increased – by 37% between 2020 and 2022 – so have adaptation-finance needs, particularly in developing economies, which face an estimated annual bill totaling $215-387 billion. According to the Independent High-Level Expert Group in Climate Finance, chaired by Nicholas Stern, delivering on loss and damage, adaptation and resilience, a just energy transition, and the conservation and restoration of nature will require around $2.4 trillion worth of investment per year by 2030 in emerging markets and developing economies alone (not including China). Yet just $726 million has been pledged for the loss and damage fund, and $175 million for the UN Adaptation Fund. In the coming months, the EU should push for reforms to the multilateral development banks aimed at bolstering their capacity to provide climate finance to developing economies. On this front, the COP28 MDB joint statement – which includes a pledge to “support country-led platforms to enhance in-country coordination and impact in all aspects of development,” including climate – sets the stage for progress. The third imperative for the EU is to foster effective cooperation on the energy transition among key global actors. In particular, a constructive dialogue with the US and China on green subsidies and green-industry collaboration is needed to unleash sharp reductions in the costs of clean-energy technologies. Whatever you see when you look at the COP28 final text, there is no denying that it represents significant progress on global climate action and multilateralism more broadly. But real, tangible change does not happen at COPs; it happens in corporate boardrooms and at asset-management firms. By providing policy certainty (through the European Green Deal) and engaging in constructive climate diplomacy, the EU can facilitate such change, translating the political consensus of COP28 into new energy-market dynamics and investment strategies. Print Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Topics Climate change COP28 Energy & Environment Geopolitics