- “Well, I think we always have to continue to dream, but we also have to be realistic at the same time. I think, as I said, one of the lessons learned from the Cop 30 is that we cannot take our allies forever for granted. The cooperation was excellent with the UK. As I said we were counting on what is traditionally called the High Ambition Coalition, which includes, for example, the small island states to have more ambition in terms of reducing emissions. That proved not as promising as on previous cops because and I understand those countries were especially interested in finance for adaptation so that they can adapt to a new reality. On the other hand we saw countries from the ilac from Latin America coming up very strongly, also in support of transitioning away from fossil fuels. So these alliances are shifting all the time. And it's not as if you have one alliance for everything forever. And that is something we will have to factor into our diplomacy. The US was absent. Indeed. That may have been a good thing, given what has happened at the International Maritime Organization a few months earlier where they were a very destabilizing and even disruptive actor. So maybe it's better that the US is not there. I have to say, there was an enormous pressure presence of US actors at sub federal level, state level, non-state actors, etc.”
EU relations with left-wing Latin America · EU climate aid for global South
- “I could give you a lot of data. I will not do that. But let me just quote one report from Morgan Stanley, an American bank that brought out a survey of its asset owners in North America, from which it appears that nine out of ten asset owners in the United States said that they will invest in sustainability and climate action in the next two years. They will not brag about it. They will not talk about it, but they're doing it because if you're a responsible business and you care about your income, not just the next quarter or next two quarters, but the next years and decades, then of course, it makes an awful lot of sense to Factor in climate action mitigation and adaptation. And that is, I think, what we see across the world. Maybe what we can also say is that this cop 30, was a cop of truth. Quite a few truths came to us, and I've quickly list them. First, we are moving really from negotiating ambition to implementing what we have agreed. And that changes quite a bit the dynamics of these cops and our partnerships. Secondly, we are really moving now, big time.”
Green Taxonomy · EU approach to sustainability criteria in private investments
- “Thank you very much. And thank you for having me on this happy occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement. I think it's a happy anniversary to the next generations. That's how I see it. And maybe I'll start a little bit with our experience coming from the cop in Belgium. As you know, and as has been communicated by the commission and our commissioner. I think the outcome of Cop 30 is below our expectations, but not enough below expectations to walk away. And you probably know that until the last moment, there were hesitations, whether the European Union, with some of its closest partners, like the UK would, would stay on board or not. But in the end, we made the calculation after a long final night of negotiations, that the minimum was there in order to support the outcome. Because the outcome, as we see it from Cop 30. And that's a little bit what we can say about the world ten years after the Paris Agreement is that the transition, the clean transition, is now irreversible, but it's not going at the speed that we need. The Paris Agreement is working, but is not working sufficiently rapidly, certainly in light of what science is telling us and in terms of what we need for safeguarding our prosperity as a global community. And in doing so, I really would like to invite everyone to make a big distinction between what in the US, Tom Steyer calls the attention economy versus the real economy and the In the attention economy, you have people calling for 20th and some even for 19th century solutions, while in the real economy things are really moving.”
Climate efforts · Green Taxonomy
- “It's in addition to that, an agenda of resilience, because the European Union and Europe is the fastest warming continent. We are warming at double the global rate of warming. Every one degree of additional warming leads at minimum to a 12% loss in GDP. These are estimates from the US government the previous one. So the more and the quicker we enhance mitigation, the less will be the costs of adaptation. There is also a big citizen dimension in this. We have seen in the latest Eurobarometer that 88% of Europe's citizens want us to act more and quicker on renewable energy and energy efficiency. And interestingly, 75% of Europe's citizens say that reducing fossil imports will improve energy security and benefit the EU economy. Why do we come with this proposal now? Again, there is an institutional dimension to this. The climate law says that this must be done. This proposal must come within six months of the global stocktake. And the date for that was June 2024. We have proposed last year a communication recommending a 90% target based on a very thorough 600 page impact assessment, which has led to a lot of debate, which has enabled us to come up with this legislative proposal. Now, obviously, we also come with this proposal now because it will facilitate investment decisions.”
Energy (green transition) · Climate efforts · Energy efficiency
- “Um, as to, um, other questions. Um, of course, Mr. Schilling, um, we as commission have a role to enforce legal requirements, including targets, uh, that we do to our role as an enforcement operator. We will continue to do this to make sure that the targets that we agree with this House and with the council will be achieved. And in terms of carbon removals, indeed, we have to avoid a deterrence of mitigation. So the way in which we integrate carbon removals in the ETS and the moment that which we do that is important and that will be part of our impact assessment. I hope I have convinced or replied also to the question of Mrs. Martin's, that we do not ignore science. Quite to the contrary. We do everything based on science or policy is science based and innovation pushing. It's really about pushing the frontier of innovation and industrial development in Europe. I believe that all scientific opinions that we have used are public. I do not know of scientific opinions that we use that would not be public. And I hope I have also answered the question of no free riders among sectors. Thank you. Chair.”
Extension of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme · Carbon capture storage and utilisation
- “Thank you very much, chair. I'm really grateful for all these questions and remarks, which shows the vivid interest in our proposal, which, of course, we welcome. It is simply impossible to answer all the questions, so I'll do my best to answer a few very telegraphic. Uh, first to Mr. Liz's question. Um, we have an open eyed, uh, not naive collaboration with China, uh, for example, on emission trading, where China has now introduced, uh, steel, cement and aluminium in its ETS system. China has achieved its renewable energy targets for 2030 already last year. Last year, it invested 75% of all investment worldwide in renewables energy. So three quarters of all renewable energy additions was happening in China. Experts tell us that China will be peaking in its emissions this year, if it has not already peaked last year. And indeed, Mr. Hoekstra is in Beijing as we talk to make sure that China comes out with the strongest target possible for 2035. And we have already publicly said that we would want China to achieve a 30% emission reduction by 2035, which would be unprecedented. On the indices, the commission's proposal says in its explanatory memorandum that for 2035, we believe this should be based on the 2040 target. Mr. Lisa is entirely right that from a climate policy perspective, as well as from a cost efficiency perspective, a higher midterm target than 2035 would make more sense.”
Extension of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme · Trade relations with China · Climate efforts
- “And the carbon removal and carbon farming regulatory framework is meant in the first place to, um, promote and encourage carbon removal investments within Europe. Um, it is a framework that is very fit for Europe because Europe has a very solid, robust framework for climate policy and a framework for legislation that ensures the integrity of carbon removals. Um, as far as Mrs. Boylan's question is concerned. The scientific advisory Board is not opposed at all to working with international credits. And we do take the point about the importance of technology transfers and climate finance. You may know that the European Union is the biggest donor worldwide of climate finance, because it is our insurance policy. It is an investment in making sure that the world is not overheating, because Europe would be the first to suffer. Um, and as far as the fund for responding to loss and damage is concerned, there was, um, a board meeting last week where the deputy director general of DG Klima, was fully participating to have this fund up and running as quickly as possible. And I am quite proud to say that Europe is, again, the biggest donor of funds to that fund for, uh, responding to loss and damage. But we need that fund to set very clear rules so that there is a tracking and tracing of the funds and that it really goes into the right forms of spending. Thank you very much, chair, for these very interesting comments and questions.”
Carbon capture storage and utilisation · EU climate aid for global South
- “Agard was saying we have to really stay the course. And by the way, not only for the climate agenda, but also, as Mr. Sanz was saying, because it's in our economic interest, it's in our security interest and our sovereignty interest and in our safety interest. What it means for us in terms of action. Maybe three quick points. One is we need to better link up what we do multilaterally with what we do plurilateral through coalitions of the Willing Climate Club for example, the new coalition for transitioning away from fossil fuels and also bilaterally these relationships and partnerships have to better work together. And there we have to become a bit more transactional. And say if we work bilaterally, then we also expect you to behave in a certain way, multilaterally. Secondly, we have to resolutely go for win win partnerships and especially with countries in the South. And we cannot have a competitive, prosperous economy in autarky in the future. So we need partners for economy but also for climate action. But this has to be win win in terms of investing in those countries, having regulatory cooperation and giving access to our markets for their green products. And that's what we do through clean trade and investment partnerships. We have now concluded the first one with South Africa, and we will see how we can take that forward with other partners as well.”
Climate efforts · EU climate aid for global South
- “And we see many big economies of the G20 introducing an ETS like Europe. We have, in order to achieve the target of 90% in a most cost efficient manner, proposed three flexibilities that we will put into our operation for the post 2030 policy framework. One is flexibility across sectors and instruments. What matters above all for our climate target is that we decarbonize by fossil. It's the fossilization that is the name of the game. We want to set a clear direction and being less prescriptive on how to get there. That's why we have introduced in our proposal the clear principles of technology neutrality, cost effectiveness and simplification. A second flexibility is that of introducing integrating permanent carbon removals into the EU emission trading system. We see this as necessary for compensating for residual emissions from hard to abate sectors, so that these sectors have a business case also in the future in Europe. And we are very, very clear that we want to keep the energy intensive industries in Europe and actually or decarbonisation agenda will help in this. And the third flexibility Is to allow for a limited use of international carbon credits. We have therefore also proposed that for 2040, we would include support for climate action abroad. That would contribute to the EU's national domestic Nationally Determined contributions within the limit of 3% between 2036 and 2040.”
Extension of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme · Carbon leakage support
- “There's still a lot of questions to be analysed in order to do this in the right manner. That's why we will come next year with a proposal, with all the details, based on an extensive stakeholder consultation and impact assessment. We are confident that we can do this because we now have a global agreement on article six in the Paris Agreement, which the European Commission was very instrumental in delivering. And we are very clear that we will follow a number of conditions for including the use of climate action abroad to carbon credits. Namely, that this has to be Paris aligned. It has to fulfil conditions of quality, additionality and high integrity, and it has to be also a win win. There has to be a sharing of benefits with partners in the South. Um, I will stop here. Uh, chair, thank you for giving me the opportunity to present this proposal on behalf of Commissioner Hoekstra. I would only want to say, in closing, that we don't see decarbonization as a problem at all. It's actually a solution for many of the challenges that Europe currently faces. And it's in that spirit that we will work in a very good terms with the members of this European Parliament to get an agreement as soon as possible. Thank you.”
Extension of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme · EU climate aid for global South
- “The International Energy Agency estimates that in 2023, for example, one third of Europe's growth was thanks to a clean energy and clean tech. It is very important that we give the policy and investment predictability so that these investments are continue, especially at a time when across the Atlantic there is a lot of uncertainty. And so Europe can really be the continent for in attracting all that investment. In turn, that will also strengthen our European competitiveness. Um, the climate agenda is basically a big agenda of innovation and investment. We are following this entirely. The report of Mr. Draghi, who has said that decarbonisation can and must be a driver of competitiveness and growth. We are in the midst of a global race to net zero worldwide, and Europe still has a competitive advantage, according to the EIB Investment Report for 2025. The European Union is still the number one producer of green patents, and since 2017, the EU has increased its exports of clean tech and green solutions by 65% compared to the US, increased by 22% and China increased by 79%. It is also an Agenda of strategic autonomy and security for Europe because, as you know, we pay a very high price, more than €400 billion a year for importing oil and gas, which is also undermining the autonomy and sovereignty of our defence buildup.”
Energy (green transition)
- “However, the commission will leave this decision also to discussions with the institutions, notably the European Council of Member States, on the credits. We have learned the lessons from the fallout of the Clean Development Mechanism, which introduced or integrated international credits in our EU ETS. We have closed this because there were too many incidents of low integrity. What we intend to do is to implement the article six and build additional rules. But at the end of the day, the one that buys the credits is also setting the requirements in terms of quality, additionality and integrity. That's another reason why we believe that it makes sense for Europe to enter into the global market for credits, because then we can define much better the global standards and help the global climate action. This will take time. This cannot be done very, very quickly. It also requires investments in countries and partner countries to generate those credits of high integrity over time. That's why we believe that starting to buy them as part of our NDC from 2036 would make sense. Um, in terms of, uh, the enabling conditions. I can assure the members of this committee that we are determined to enhance our work on enabling conditions. And what we see is that actually having an ambitious climate and decarbonisation objective helps to put measures in place which would otherwise not be possible. For example, we have recently presented the Green Deal, a state aid framework which allows for subsidising electricity prices for energy intensive industries, for example on the condition that these industries invest also in decarbonisation.”
Extension of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme · EU climate aid for global South
- “Um, why do we propose 3% for international use of international credits. We believe this is the balance between taking responsibility for domestic emission reduction, but also contributing to the global efforts. And as was said by another member of this committee. If we buy international credits, that also means, of course, that money goes to countries in the South. And we want to avoid, by increasing that percentage that we have an investment leakage from Europe. I can say to Mr. Rendre that the Netherlands is one of the strongest supporters of phasing out Russian fuels. The Dutch government is strongly supporting this. And as a matter of fact, we have included nuclear energy in the complementary delegated act of the taxonomy, and this House has approved it already in February 20th and the course of 2022. As to the question from, uh, Mrs., uh, Wisner. Uh, we have not stopped. Follow science following science. Uh, we actually listen a lot to not only the European Scientific Advisory Board, but many other scientists, uh, as well. Uh, the Scientific Advisory Board has said that the use of international credits can be a good thing. Uh, they do propose it on top of the 90 to 95%, uh, domestic reduction we have proposed as part of the 90% reduction, but in very limited terms. I'm afraid I did not really catch, uh, the point on the 30% increase of emissions in the EU that I can assure you, is not at all the case, but we will be happy to discuss this, uh, bilaterally.”
Extension of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme · EU-Russia relations (from March 2022) · Green Taxonomy
- “And we also see that the climate agenda is actually a way of increasing or improving or competitiveness globally. Exactly as Mr. Draghi has said. Um, so if we want to keep jobs in Europe, then we better invest and innovate in the industries of the future, which includes energy intensive industries, but not on the basis of fossil inputs. Um, there is a global race going on to electrification, and electrification is really what is the most important driver for our competitiveness in the future. As to the question from Mr. Schmidt. Um, I, uh, remembered that Mr. Draghi talked about €800 billion additional investment per year. We have calculated in our impact assessment that, uh, for the energy transition to get to our climate neutrality goals, we need about €600 billion additional investment a year. That means that as Europe, we should invest 1.5% more of GDP. That is, investments that will modernize our economy and which is actually still below what Europe invested in the 1970s. And we had in the 1970s investment rates as GDP as part of GDP of 25 to 27%. Today, we are at investment rates of 22%. And that is what is really jeopardising or competitiveness. Um, and so the climate agenda therefore is a stimulus for investment by giving a clear direction of where our economy needs to go. And making sure that those that do invest. Will get a return on investment.”
Energy (green transition)
- “Thank you, Mr. Chair. I listened with great interest. I can assure you. And on your engineering comments, if I may, I'm very happy to inform this committee that Turkey has just recently legislated to introduce an emissions trading system, also in Turkey, which will help to level the playing field for industries. And secondly, as far as energy is concerned, we have never said that our energy system can be or should be 100% renewable only. That is would be far fetched. But we still have a long way to go to increase our renewable energy mix. The question is really, do we want to stick to fossil, for which we pay a very high price and which is leading to deindustrialisation because of the high prices? Or do we go through clean energy sources and get rid of fossil imports? As you know, contrary to the United States, Europe has no endowments or fossil. We have to import almost everything. Um, to the question of Mr. Luck. Um, I can say that the public support is, of course, key. And I think also the European Parliament plays a very important role in this. We are encouraged by the results of the latest Eurobarometer that has been referred to by some. But I think we have to do a better job than before of clearly saying that this climate agenda is not only about protecting the planet, it's maybe even more about protecting people and prosperity. Um, because we see what the effects are of climate change and they will not, uh, become less quite to the contrary.”
Energy (green transition) · Extension of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme
- “As to Mrs. Reiner's question, why do we consolidate with this proposal? Well, we have come already last year in February, with a communication and a 600 page impact assessment that recommended a 90% emission reduction target for 2040. Since then, we have had many consultations also with economic actors, businesses, stakeholders, etc. and there has recently been an additional, uh, consultation effort to make sure that we come with a proposal that, um, is, um, finding at least the middle ground between realism, uh, ambition and, uh, pragmatism. Um, we agree with you, Mrs. Wisner, that, um, we cannot envisage going to the cop without our, uh, NDC. But may I remind the members of this committee that the 2035 NDC is purely indicative? Uh, what really matters for Europe is the 2040 target, which we propose to be binding in law, as this House and the Council of Ministers have asked through the climate, uh, law as to, uh, Mr. Bloss, what is the cost of buying international credits that we don't know yet? Uh, there's still a lot of work to be done. Um, to know how many credits we will buy and what will be the cost, because that depends also on the integrity conditions that we will attach to it. We are very clear minded, as I said, about the carbon removals not coming at the expense of emission reduction. So that is a factor that we will take to heart.”
Extension of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme · Climate efforts · EU climate aid for global South
- “We know that many investment decisions are on hold. For companies, businesses, investors to know that we will stay the course on this climate action. Very importantly, this proposal, hopefully adopted as soon as possible, will also help us design the policy framework for post 2030. This needs to be agreed in codecision and we want to have it ready before 2030, in good time. In addition to that, as I said, it will give us the mandate and the mission to work on the enabling conditions even more than we already do. For example, in implementing the clean industrial deal, which is central to achieving our climate goals. But there is also an international dimension to this. With our target of 90% by 2040, we will be able to much better put pressure on our international partners to also reduce emissions. That is very important for the European Union because we are hitting at double the global rate, as I said. Why do we propose 90%? This is to be very clear, not an increase in our climate ambition. It is an interim target to go from 2030 to 2050, in the most cost efficient manner. It is based on science, notably the report from the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change and based on a very thorough and deep impact assessment. Last point I would want to make is why or how will we achieve this 90% emission reduction target? Well, by working in earnest and with a lot of ambition on the enabling conditions, um, namely Namely implementing the goals we have agreed altogether for 2030.”
Extension of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme · Climate efforts
- “Thank you, Mr. Chair. And, uh, good afternoon to everyone. Um, best regards from our Commissioner Hoekstra, who unfortunately couldn't be here today because he's in Beijing. Uh, having the high level environment and climate dialogue as we speak. So it falls on me with great pleasure to briefly present the proposal that we presented last week for, uh, amending the European climate law. It's a quite short proposal, to amend the climate law in order to introduce an interim target for greenhouse gas emission reduction by 2040. We propose 90%. It's an interim target between the 2030 target that we have of 55%, and the goal that is in the climate law already for 2050, namely climate neutrality. What the legislative proposal says is that the Commission will accelerate and deepen work on the enabling conditions to achieve this target for 2040, in the most cost efficient manner. And it also gives a a set of elements, 18 elements to review all the legislative relevant legislation for after 2030. Why do we present this proposal? Well, there is of course an institutional reason because the co-legislators, the European Parliament and the Council have asked in the climate law that the Commission comes up with this proposal for an interim 2040 target. But more importantly, from our point of view, it is really about maintaining and sustaining investment predictability. And we have seen a big increase in investment in clean energy as well as clean tech over the last five years.”
Extension of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme · Climate efforts · Energy (green transition)
- “We see that through the work of the Member States on their national energy and climate plans, we will be achieving 54% by 2030. So we are very close to our goal and with a little bit of additional effort, we will meet our goals for 2030, and actually setting an interim target for 2040 will further enhance the efforts for achieving our goals for 2030. Secondly, making sure that we work on industrial competitiveness, which is at the heart of this whole decarbonisation agenda. We will do this through the clean industrial deal. And the proposal last week was accompanied by a communication that explains where we are with the implementation of the clean industrial deal. A third enabling condition is to work on just transition, to make sure that this transition is Socially fair and responsible. There we are working with the Member States to implement the Social Climate Fund as of January next year, and we are also working for the enabling condition on the global level playing field to make sure that we have no distortion or as little distortion as possible in the global market, notably by exporting carbon pricing and emission trading, for which there is a big uptake and interest.”
Extension of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme
- “Notic. Um, I can say that, uh, international, National in the developed countries are reducing emissions. Last year, we have seen that developed countries have reduced emissions by 1%. Global emissions are still rising because of developing countries that are still growing, and they feel they have a legitimacy to grow. But the developed economies globally have started reducing their emissions last year in terms of the increase of prices, the industrialization, etc., that is not linked to the climate agenda. That is entirely linked to our very costly dependence on imports of fossil fuels. And actually the climate agenda and decarbonisation is the answer to high prices and the willingness that we all have of industrial renewal in Europe to Mr.. I can say that the shift of manufacturing to China Way predates the climate agenda as we know it. But we take this very seriously. And we are starting now to introduce resilience criteria to make sure that cleantech that will be developed in Europe will not be undercut by unfair Chinese competition. It's again, thanks to the climate agenda that we have agreed on, the Net Zero Industry Act, which says that at least 40% of the clean tech used in Europe has to be manufactured in Europe. Why do we go for 90%? Well, this is based on the impact assessment that we published last year. It's a 600 page impact assessment that was accompanying our communication of February 2024, which explains exactly why we propose, uh, 90%.”
Trade relations with China · Climate efforts
- “That is possible thanks to a climate agenda. On the question of Mr. Lopez about loopholes in the use of international credits, I think I referred to the Clean Development Mechanism, which we will not repeat. We now have the article six globally, which is a serious difference from before. And we will of course, make sure that there is no double counting with our partner countries so that every credit we buy is in short of reducing or removing emissions. That's at the end of the day, what counts. And that's why we are very clear that international credits have to be aligned with the Paris Agreement and fulfil all the necessary conditions, as far as flexibility across sectors are concerned. I would really want to state very clearly that all sectors of the economy and of society have to contribute, and there should be no free riders, but we do want to allow for more flexibility in member states when a certain sector is achieving its targets more easily than another one. At the end of the day, what matters is that we reduce emissions and that we de fossilize our economy. Um, onto the questions from all the comments from, uh, Mr.”
Extension of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme · Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)
- “Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, dear members of Parliament. Thank you for devoting a bit of time to preparations for COP30. This is very timely and useful to hear your views and expectations for COP30. As you know, the European Union remains a frontrunner in the global fight against climate change and remains fully committed to the Paris Agreement and its long-term objectives, as well as to the multilateral approach. President van der Leyen reconfirmed this during the COP30 virtual pre-summit at leaders' level that President Lula of Brazil and UN Secretary-General Guterres convened earlier today. As a strong defender of international climate action, we are staying the course on our climate action for 2030 and 2050 and we remain ready to work with partners worldwide to accelerate real progress. In that regard, the year 2025 marks a crucial milestone for global mitigation ambition, with countries set to present their post-2030 nationally determined contributions, the NDCs, but also the year when the first full set of biannual transparency reports will become available. This will provide clear evidence that the Paris Agreement is operational and is delivering results. The Paris Agreement, it's important to stress this, is working. Before the Paris Agreement, we were heading for a temperature rise of more than 4 degrees by the end of this century. Now we are warming in the range of 3 degrees. Global investments in clean energy are now more than double those in fossil energy and more people are now working in clean energy than in the fossil fuel economy. But I think we will all agree that the pace of global climate action remains too slow and ambition must rise to meet the scale of the challenge. Science is unequivocal. Every fraction of a degree in warming carries immense economic, social and human costs. Building on many interactions with the Brazilian incoming presidency, most lately with Commissioner Hook's transmission to Brazil early this month, we trust that Brazil will lead with transparency, inclusivity and ambition, ensuring that this crucial moment sets a clear course for long-term climate action. The EU, for its part, will push for meaningful outcomes that strengthen the UNFCCC process. At COP30, we will call on governments to unite in reaffirming their commitments to the Paris Agreement's long-term goals and defending the energy transition. Let me briefly review some main priorities for COP30. First, we need a strong follow-up to the global stocktake that was agreed at COP28 in Dubai. The Paris Agreement stipulates that the GST outcome should inform indices and strengthen international cooperation. The EU will strongly advocate for a dedicated political space in Belem, where high-level discussions translate into clear, actionable recommendations for closing the ambition and implementation gaps. We in the EU are preparing our new indice with a view to submitting it ahead of COP30 in good time. The world expects that the EU's commitments remain aligned with the 1.5° goal and reflect the outcomes of the first global stocktake. Second, in terms of mandated outcomes, COP30 is expected to complete the work on the development of indicators for measuring progress towards the targets on adaptation and resilience. Third, in the course of 2025 and under the guidance of the Azerbaijani and Brazilian COP Presidencies, parties will discuss the Baku to Belem roadmap to 1.3 trillion dollars. The two COP Presidencies are expected to produce a report summarising the relevant work to be concluded by COP30. It is crucial that we all play our role in scaling up climate finance to at least 1.3 trillion. While public finance remains essential, particularly for adaptation and for the most vulnerable countries, the least developed and the small island developing states, we will be working towards better leveraging private capital, including from institutional investors. To attract investments, enabling environments at all levels are imperative, so that there is investment impact and reasonable return on investment. We also need to provide the right incentives and disincentives through policies such as carbon pricing, charges and levies on polluting industries or phasing out fossil fuel subsidies that do not contribute to a just transition. Global coordination is equally important to coordinate and create an ecosystem where the private sector sees climate action as viable, profitable and a stable investment avenue. Now, it is clear that the current geopolitical context does not make this agenda much easier. We acknowledge that in the near term, in the absence of the US, leadership will be required of all parties, and in particular the European Union and other major economies, and that the Paris Agreement must continue to provide a platform for this leadership. All continents and all economies have to speed up the transition towards net zero to reap the economic benefits and make it possible for all to prosper within planetary boundaries, but also to deal with the growing burden of climate change. In this challenging context, climate action and international cooperation remain on top of the global political agenda, and we will work to keep them there. In that spirit, the EU will build and strengthen alliances that uphold the Paris Agreement and push forward the global energy transition. We will engage with different partners at bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral level and in the margins of ministerial meetings, including the Ministerial on Climate Action co-organized by Canada, China and the EU, to replicate positive messages as well as build on potential cooperation activities. We will remain engaged in plurilateral fora, such as the G7 and G20, focusing on investment in clean technologies, adaptation and energy security. We will continue to drive international climate action and deliver on its commitments, including in the context of the new climate finance goal. And we will continue promoting carbon pricing as a key tool to ensure emission reductions and generate revenues to invest in the transition. We see encouraging developments in that space. Our new carbon pricing diplomacy task force, IndigiClima, is engaging actively with a range of promising target countries. Brazil has decided to introduce a new ETS. Japan is making its ETS compulsory for its industry next year. And China is expanding its ETS into new sectors like steel, cement and aluminium. We are optimistic that this year can bring positive commitments from several other partners from different parts of the world. **Kurt VANDENBERGHE (European Commission - DG CLIMA): Now, more than ever, it is essential that all sectors contribute to the achievement of our goals. Also, on that front, I am happy to report that we have recently seen very encouraging progress. The agreement reached two weeks ago at the International Maritime Organization on decarbonisation of global shipping is really historic. It marks a significant advancement in reducing the environmental impact of the shipping industry on a global scale and towards achieving net-zero emissions from global shipping by 2050 at the IMO. The agreement reached does not yet ensure the sector's full contribution to achieving the Paris Agreement goals, but it constitutes a strong foundation for starting the required energy transition of shipping. And I am very happy to report that the EU and its Member States played a key role in securing the deal. The agreement is even more remarkable, I hope you will agree, and encouraging in the current geopolitical context. It shows that multilateralism remains the way to go. And we will bring this positive momentum to COP30. In conclusion, Mr. Chair, we have high expectations for COP30 in Belem. It will be, again, a decisive moment for the UNFCCC process and multilateralism, and for setting the course for long-term climate action, especially for the next ten years of the Paris Agreement. Success in global climate action is where the EU's interests and those of the global community significantly converge in terms of sustaining prosperity, protecting people and livelihoods, and upholding the principles and values of multilateralism and international collaboration. Thank you very much.
**Antonio DECARO @Chair: Thank you, Director General. Now let's turn the floor over to the representatives of the political groups. Two minutes to speak.”
Extension of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme · Climate efforts · Decarbonisation of maritime transport
- “And thirdly, we have to look at the global level playing field. We have to protect the companies in Europe that do more for decarbonisation. If they invest here and they risk being undercut by unfair competition from elsewhere, That cannot happen because then they won't do the investment. But we also need to work on global common tools that create a global level playing field. And that's for example, carbon pricing, which is really spreading like wildfire. Thanks also to the carbon border adjustment mechanism. And at Cop 30 the EU, in the presence of Mrs. von der Leyen with the Chinese and the Brazilians, have launched the Open Coalition for compliance carbon markets, which is a very significant departure. And this would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. But no carbon pricing is seen as one of the most cost effective tools to decarbonize. And we see interest from across the world. The latest one is Thailand, that legislated last week for introducing their emission trading system. There's only one exception again, is the US at federal level, but not at state level, Because there are many states that continue even firm up or now introduce carbon pricing.”
Extension of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme · Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)
- “and I learned that the commitment also there from business and academia is very strong to continue. You know, maybe that the Environmental Protection Agency has said that it will stop measuring and monitoring emissions. Where we learned that this will be taken over by the University of Minnesota. So it will continue not at the federal level as we used to know, but it will certainly continue. What it means for us is that we have to think differently. I think of what it means to be a leader in the climate area. We have seen that simply doing as much as you can and then thinking that others will follow you. That doesn't work. At the same time, leadership by example is very important because if an economy and a continent like Europe that doesn't have fossil endowments and that has every interest in succeeding in the clean transition, if we give up, if we don't do it, then the rest of the world will say, well, see, Europe can't do it. Why would we continue? So that leadership by example remains very important, and that is why we have to stay the course. As also Mrs. Rivera, Mr.”
Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) · Climate efforts · Energy (green transition)
- “From ecology to economy. It's all about the business case mobilizing investment, which touches on very sensitive core interests of countries, for example, those that have fossil fuels and those that don't have what we have also seen. Thirdly is the limits to multilateralism which have their limits. And I think one of the observations about the the Paris Agreement, as we all know, is that we agree on collective ambition, but the implementation is at national level. So we have to find a way of linking that collective ambition with national implementation. And the last point is that we have also seen that the role and influence of the EU is not without limits. The world is changing a lot and very rapidly geochemically geo politically. We have seen that the BRICs alliance, for example, was very, very present in Belgium, and we have alliances and allies, but we cannot take them for granted. But the good news. And I'll finish on this is exactly what Minister Aagaard said. I think we, all of us involved in this fell in love with the EU again because we had a really a cohesive team. We stayed united. We had very good cooperation with the UK and some of our other partners like Australia, Canada, Japan and that really should be a source of pride and also a source of confidence in the future.”
EU-UK relations · EU stance on BRICS cooperation
- “It's by electrifying that we will modernize our industry and remain competitive in the future. As to Mr. Zalewski, I would clearly want to say that we are not here to get applause. We are here to conduct a policy that is in the public interest and that supports our economic development, the prosperity of our society and the protection of our people. I am not aware of any policy in the Netherlands that would regulate the use of electricity, and I can for sure say that there is nothing in the EU policy or legislation that would ask a member state to regulate the use of electricity. As to Mrs. Kuhlman, um, we believe that the use of international credits is not a lack of leadership. Quite to the contrary, it is showing that we also take responsibility for global climate action by making sure that there will always be a benefit sharing so that we do not buy international credits. At the expense of our partner countries, but that it is in the mutual interests of both parties and in the interest of reducing emissions. Overall, I'm very happy that you pointed to the fact that electricity prices vary quite a bit in Europe, between the North and the South, where there is heavy investment in renewables and other parts of Europe, where indeed there are very high electricity prices because of lack of investment in renewables and a very high dependency on fossil imports.”
Energy (green transition) · EU approach to electricity market and prices