European Union member states and the European Commission should harden their stance on environmental action ahead of United Nations climate talks in Katowice, Poland in December. This was agreed by MEPs in a non-binding resolution on October 25.
The MEPs called for concrete targets. They said countries sent a Nationally Determined Contribution – the target reduction of greenhouse gases by each country by 2030 – at 55% at least.
“It is very important because this is the position of the parliament toward Katowice,” said Bas Eickhout, a Green lawmaker who shepherded the resolution through the legislature. “It is a very important signal.”
As reported by the Reuters news agency, raising the NDC would require the approval of all 28 EU nations.
Earlier this month, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned the world would have to make “unprecedented” changes to meet the target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.
Meeting this target, rather than the two-degree goal agreed at global climate talks in Paris in 2015, would have “clear benefits to people and natural ecosystems”, the IPCC said on the release of its report.
The resolution passed in the European Parliament on October 25 also called on the EU to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
