Belgium, (Brussels Morning Newspaper) European Commissioner for Climate Action Frans Timmermans noted that he is not happy with the outcome of COP27.
The EC noted in a statement released on Sunday that more needs to be done to tackle climate change.
Timmermans stressed that agreements reached at the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference commonly referred to as COP27 are not enough to reverse negative environmental trends.
“It does not bring enough added efforts from major emitters to increase and accelerate their emissions cuts… it does not bring a higher degree of confidence that we will achieve the commitments made under the Paris Agreement and in Glasgow last year,” he warned.
Timmermans pointed out that the EU remains committed to Paris Agreement goals and limit the global temperature rise to 1.5°C and called on other countries to do more.
He stressed that the EU wants to stop the rise of global greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 and limit the use of fossil fuels, noting that more than 80 countries support this goal.
“This Mitigation Work Programme doesn’t block the path to 1.5, but it certainly puts unnecessary barriers in the way, and allows parties to hide from their responsibilities,” Timmermans warned.
EU’s commitment
He announced the EC would continue fighting for more ambitious goals and expressed belief that “nothing prevents us from doing more.”
Timmermans pointed out that many countries are not prepared to do more in the fight against climate change and added “there were too many attempts to even roll back what we agreed in Glasgow.”
He called on COP27 attendants to do more in the next 12 months and stressed “the cost of inaction is so much higher than the cost of action.”
Commenting on the monsoon season flooding in Pakistan, Timmermans noted “it breaks your heart to listen to it” and added that parts of Africa are facing droughts while countries in the Pacific are facing “monster storms.”
Timmermans expressed belief that developed countries should pay climate reparations and do more to prevent natural disasters.
He called for adopting a reparations model as a long-term solution to lack of solidarity and concluded that “our people and planet have no more time to lose.”
