Brexit Is Delaying EU Action To Fight Climate Change
(But only a little bit and no one will notice anyway)
Dave Keating, Forbes, 20 October 2019
In June, European prime ministers meeting in Brussels were unable to agree on an EU proposal to completely decarbonize by 2050. Poland, with the backing of a few other Eastern European countries, said they could not support a plan they believe will inhibit their economic growth.
At the time, campaigners were bitterly disappointed.
The failure to agree meant that the EU showed up empty handed to the special UN climate summit in New York last month. It had been hoped that the EU raising its climate ambition would motivate others to do the same. In the end, no major economy made new pledges to up their ambition for their pledges under the Paris Agreement at the New York summit.
People involved in the EU negotiations believe Warsaw’s objection can be overcome by offering Eastern Europe more money to ease the transition away from fossil fuels - mostly through a “just transition fund” that would help workers in coal regions, among other things.
Getting Poland on board will take time. But campaigners say it’s essential for this to be done before the next annual summit of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which is meeting in Santiago, Chile in early December.
Thanks to Brexit, there is no chance of that happening.
EU leaders hold their Brussels summits four times a year, so the next opportunity for them to endorse the 2050 plan was at the October summit this past week. But yet again, the climate discussion had to be postponed because of the ongoing British crisis of Brexit.
After the EU granted it two extensions, the UK was due to leave the bloc on October 31. But with no leaving deal yet agreed by the start of this summit, it had to be used to try to clinch a last-minute agreement. Eventually a deal was agreed, but it appears it will be rejected by the British Parliament, which has already asked the EU for yet another extension.
“Everything is being overshadowed by Brexit,” noted one diplomat from an Eastern European country. That is the reason the climate discussion is being delayed until the next EU summit in December, he said.
“It feels like we can’t make any progress on climate change until Brexit is resolved one way or the other - it’s an infuriating distraction,” grumbled another EU official.
Full post
(But only a little bit and no one will notice anyway)
Dave Keating, Forbes, 20 October 2019
In June, European prime ministers meeting in Brussels were unable to agree on an EU proposal to completely decarbonize by 2050. Poland, with the backing of a few other Eastern European countries, said they could not support a plan they believe will inhibit their economic growth.
At the time, campaigners were bitterly disappointed.
The failure to agree meant that the EU showed up empty handed to the special UN climate summit in New York last month. It had been hoped that the EU raising its climate ambition would motivate others to do the same. In the end, no major economy made new pledges to up their ambition for their pledges under the Paris Agreement at the New York summit.
People involved in the EU negotiations believe Warsaw’s objection can be overcome by offering Eastern Europe more money to ease the transition away from fossil fuels - mostly through a “just transition fund” that would help workers in coal regions, among other things.
Getting Poland on board will take time. But campaigners say it’s essential for this to be done before the next annual summit of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which is meeting in Santiago, Chile in early December.
Thanks to Brexit, there is no chance of that happening.
EU leaders hold their Brussels summits four times a year, so the next opportunity for them to endorse the 2050 plan was at the October summit this past week. But yet again, the climate discussion had to be postponed because of the ongoing British crisis of Brexit.
After the EU granted it two extensions, the UK was due to leave the bloc on October 31. But with no leaving deal yet agreed by the start of this summit, it had to be used to try to clinch a last-minute agreement. Eventually a deal was agreed, but it appears it will be rejected by the British Parliament, which has already asked the EU for yet another extension.
“Everything is being overshadowed by Brexit,” noted one diplomat from an Eastern European country. That is the reason the climate discussion is being delayed until the next EU summit in December, he said.
“It feels like we can’t make any progress on climate change until Brexit is resolved one way or the other - it’s an infuriating distraction,” grumbled another EU official.
Full post
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