High level opening statement Executive Vice President Frans Timmermans at COP27

By : Heba Abdel Fattah

Sharm El Sheikh

Dear colleagues, dear friends,

The European Union is here to move forward, not backwards. Glasgow gave us sound foundations. Here in Sharm El-Sheikh, we want to set out a path forward.

In Glasgow, all of us fought hard to keep 1.5 alive. We now need to implement these plans, and help each other to do so.

This is the Implementation COP. The president [of COP] has said it many times. It is now time to deliver.

In the European Union, we are delivering. Step by step, the European Green Deal is put into action. We have committed to cut our emissions by at least 55% by 2030.The target puts us on track for 1.5.

In the past two weeks we have already agreed three of the pieces of domestic legislation to get this done. We agreed how to share emission cuts among our Member States, to boost our carbon sinks, and to phase out CO2 emitting cars.

We are firmly on track to finalize all legislation to deliver our climate target by the end of this year.

The current state of play will bring the actual emissions reductions to at least 57%. So I am happy to announce here today that the EU stands ready to update our NDC*, reflecting this higher ambition.

So don’t let anybody tell you, here or outside, that the EU is backtracking.

Don’t let them tell you that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is killing the European Green Deal. That we are in a ‘dash for gas’. No. Europe is staying the course. Actually, we’re even accelerating.

We are saving more energy, investing more in renewables than ever before.

Russia’s war against Ukraine will end. Ukraine will rise and prosper. The European Green Deal will succeed.

The climate crisis is ravaging our planet, every day. We need to step up our act.

We need to work faster on adaptation. The EU is ready to make progress on the global goal on adaptation. We are ready to address loss and damage. Because too many countries cannot shoulder the climate crisis on their own.

We need to close the gap on climate finance, including by collectively doubling adaptation finance – parties that have not delivered need to take responsibility and need to deliver. We need to work with multilateral banks to get the shift of the trillions going.

The EU is committed to taking concrete measures to address the gap in Loss and Damage, including new funding arrangements. But we need to trust each other, launch a well-designed process so that we can end with the best possible result, with the highest benefits and the most value to those that need it most.

Tackling climate change will always require multiple solutions, tailored to specific needs. We know there is no one-size-fits-all response. I hope we can acknowledge this early on, and give ourselves the freedom to move forward, without trying to answer every question now.

Let us build a Sharm El-Sheikh process that takes all of us forward.

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/SPEECH_22_6927

• NDC: Nationally determined contributions – Paris Agreement

Thanks,