Following the publication of the IPCC climate change report today and ahead of the Environment Council’s meeting tomorrow, S&D Euro MPs call for urgent additional measures to fulfil the Paris Agreement pledges. The report of the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns that there is only 12 years to be kept to a maximum of 1.5°C and avoid a catastrophic environmental breakdown. The Paris Agreement signed in 2015 set the ambitious goal to maintain temperatures between 1.5°C and 2°C.
S&D vice-president Kathleen Van Brempt, S&D MEP and Parliament's negotiator on the resolution for the 2018 climate summit, Jo Leinen, and S&D spokesperson on environment, Miriam Dalli MEP, said:
“The special IPCC report is a wake-up call for governments across the globe to step up efforts to fulfil the Paris Agreement pledges. Aside from shedding light into the negative consequences of global warming, the report clearly shows that current promises are insufficient to maintain temperatures below 2°C.
“The environment ministers can no longer shy away from their responsibilities. There is no time for complacency. Urgent and unprecedented action is needed now, before we reach the brink of an environmental disaster.
“We call on the EU environment ministers to be bold and ambitious. The EU must significantly increase the climate change target for 2030 and deliver on its promises. A more ambitious 2030 goal is within reach. The European Parliament has already set the pace by adopting a number of reports to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in buildings, power generation and transport. It is time for the Environment Council to act upon this decisively.”
