Speech by Executive Vice President Frans Timmermans at High-level ministerial round table on pre-2030 ambition during COP27

By : Heba Abdel Fattah

Sharm El Sheikh

There’s been this very strange narrative going around, that because of the challenges coming to Europe because of Putin’s war against Ukraine, we would be stepping back from our ambitions and stepping back from our programs.

Nothing could be further from the truth and I want to say this very clearly here today. So that this misunderstanding may soon disappear. Not only do we stick to our commitments, we’re even doubling down on them through RePowerEU, and through the legislation that we are now now deciding with the co-legislators in the EU – that’s the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. We took three decisions in the last couple of weeks: on cars, on what every Member State should do to share the effort, and on how we empower nature to be a better carbon sink. And they all lead to us being able to say that we’re going to go even beyond the goal we have set up of at least 55% emissions reductions by 2030. So, there should be no misunderstanding the EU is very much committed to this.

The EU is also very clear that if you want to be successful in this area, you have to not forget about the necessity of keeping up the levels of mitigation. 1.5 degrees should be kept alive and I hope also this COP can agree on that. And I’m really curious to hear from everyone what they are going to do in their countries to make that happen, to stick to the plans, etcetera.

In any case, we are going to increase our efforts to reduce energy consumption, because I think this is an essential element and also to speed up our transition to renewable energy. And just to be very clear, if this means in the short run, we use more coal than we had anticipated, it is because we are going to go much faster with our energy transition. At the end of the day this does not lead to a bigger carbon footprint of the European Union.

I know that we are with the Member States, the largest contributor to international public climate finance. But we also all know that what’s on the table now is by far not enough to make the transition happen and to address the issue of adaptation and loss and damage. We need to go from billions to trillions.

This is never going to happen just with public money. We have to make sure we create the right conditions for the international financial system to be more in line with the necessity of the world community, but also to make it easier for investors to step in and to step in massively.

We also need to – and this let me end on what is for me the most important point – make sure that nobody is left behind. And I mean this within societies but I also mean this within the global community. So, the distress calls coming from countries that are faced with these huge climate emergencies, these huge effects of erratic weather patterns, they should be answered with concrete measures, concrete steps in the right direction.

The EU and its member states stand ready to do that this week.

Thank you.