The European Union would rather be unsuccessful than get a bad result in the climate negotiations, says European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans.
13:46•Updated 14:08
The European Union does not accept the host country Egypt’s latest background paper at the COP27 climate meeting because it does not aim to reduce emissions sufficiently. According to a representative of France’s energy transition ministry interviewed by AFP, Egypt questioned with its proposal the progress achieved in emission reductions at last year’s climate meeting in Glasgow.
The representative of the ministry stated that it is impossible for France and the countries of the European Union to accept the proposal.
– The problem is that Egypt, as the presidency, is trying to push through a text that would remove the obligation for countries to regularly tighten their national goals in order to reach the 1.5 degree target, he said.
The 1.5 degree target refers to the decision made at the Paris Climate Conference, according to which the climate should not warm more than it did in pre-industrial times. In Glasgow, the countries decided to review their own emission targets annually.
The EU is ready to walk out of the negotiations
The European Union would rather be unsuccessful at the meeting than get a bad result in the climate negotiations, says the vice-president of the European Commission Frans Timmermans. According to him, the European Union is ready to walk out of the climate negotiations.
However, Timmermans added that the EU still hopes for a good outcome from the meeting. On Twitter (you will switch to another service) he commented that the negotiations were in overtime.
– The European Union is united in its goal to move forward and build on the foundation we agreed on in Glasgow, he wrote.
– Our message to the partners is clear: we cannot accept it if the 1.5 degree goal dies here today, he continued.
According to the presidency, most of the countries participating in the meeting considered Egypt’s basic proposals to be balanced. Chairman of the meeting Sameh Shoukry said that the majority of the parties indicated that they considered the text balanced and that it could lead to a possible breakthrough that could lead to an agreement.
Ohisalo is pushing for a large-scale transition away from fossil fuels
The Minister of Environment and Climate, participating in the meeting Maria Ohisalo (green) commented on the situation of the negotiations to STT at noon.
– The presidency has brought proposals to the table. It seems very far away that they are not sticking to the fact that the climate would not warm up more than one and a half degrees. Any weakening of that goal would mean, in practice, melting of glaciers, more floods, more droughts and weaker farming conditions, says Ohisalo.
According to Ohisalo, the EU is not alone with its 1.5 degree goal, but many other countries also support it.
– There are many countries that consider this goal very important and consider that they cannot leave here with results worse than Glasgow. Of course, we hope that little by little compromise proposals would start to be found on the table. We haven’t started negotiations yet, but there is always such a possibility, says Ohisalo.
The minister is involved in negotiating the general decision text of the meeting, i.e. the central political messages of the meeting.
– There have been a lot of discussions on a technical level, not so much on a political level. In the background, we are trying to influence, among other things, that we would get as many countries as possible to participate in, for example, a registration where we would like to break away from fossil fuels. So, not just about coal, but truly disengagement more broadly.
The negotiators have prepared to be there for a long time.
– At the moment, for example, there has been no new version of the general decision at all, Ohisalo says.
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