EU to back five-year targets at COP26 climate talks
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| Image credit Trend |
BRUSSELS, - The European Union on Wednesday
agreed to back five-year climate targets at the COP26 climate change
conference, where countries will attempt to finalise the rules needed to put
the Paris Agreement into effect.
At the COP26 summit, to be held in Glasgow from Oct. 31 to
Nov. 12, countries will attempt to unblock years of negotiations on the
technical rules. One issue they will address is whether their climate targets
under the Paris 2015 accord should follow a "common timeframe".
Environment ministers from EU countries agreed on Wednesday
to support the view that countries should set climate targets every five years.
Some EU states, including Poland, had wanted an option to set 10 years goals.
The EU will express its preference for five-year targets
"only in the case all parties would be required to do so and in a manner
consistent with the European climate law," the ministers said in a
statement.
The EU decision boosts the negotiating position of the
United States, African countries and small island states, who also support
five-year climate pledges.
They say the shorter five-year cycle would keep up pressure
on countries to set ambitious targets, and help track whether they are cutting
emissions fast enough to avert catastrophic climate change.
They also worry that 10-year pledges could let countries
with weaker climate goals fly under the radar for a whole decade.
China and India are among the countries opposed to a single
time frame.
Setting a Paris Agreement pledge every five years would not
necessarily change the EU's legally binding targets to cut emissions by 2030
and 2050. Brussels will also set a 2040 emissions-cutting target.
For example, the EU could submit a 2035 climate pledge to
the U.N. that would estimate where its emissions need to be that year, to stay
on track for its 2040 goal.
Credit:Reported by Kate Abnett; Editing by Hugh Lawson for Reuters
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