The Environment Committee of the European Parliament wants the EU to advocate for the gradual complete phase-out of subsidies for fossil energy production at the UN Climate Summit in Glasgow this November.
An ENVI resolution, which the full European Parliament will vote on this week, will serve as the starting point for the Parliament's negotiators at the UN summit.
The resolution calls for progress on the promise made by wealthy countries to provide 100 billion dollars annually in climate subsidies to developing countries. Despite a lack of support from the Christian Democrats, that proposal also won a majority to fully abolish all fossil fuel subsidies by 2025 at the latest.
Dutch Member of the European Parliament Bas Eickhout (GreenLeft) would have preferred even higher European climate goals, but there was no majority for this. Eickhout is part of the European Parliament's negotiating delegation in Glasgow.
The negotiations during the climate summit revolve around many technical issues. One key point of discussion is the timeline for climate targets. Countries currently have climate goals with different interim dates, such as 2025 or 2030.
The debate is whether these goals should be set every five or every ten years. The European Parliament wants these kinds of goals to be set every five years starting from 2031.
There are major differences between countries. The United Kingdom, Canada, and the US are taking relatively large new steps, as is the European Union. However, countries like Australia and Indonesia have simply resubmitted their old climate targets.
Then there are countries like Russia and India that set such weak targets that they exceed their actual emission trends. As a result, they do not need to implement climate policies to meet their goals and therefore do not achieve emission reductions.