November 14, 2021

COP26 in review: European climate commitments

topic:	Climate action
editor:	Abby Klinkenberg

Between 31 October and 12 November, world leaders met at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) to revamp their commitments to address the climate crisis and arrive at new pledges to reduce emissions levels. While some have criticised the EU for being “invisible” during COP26 talks, others have praised its status as a mediator to bridge “the North – South trust gap.” To get a more accurate picture of what Europe has actually achieved at COP26, it’s necessary to take a deeper dive into its policy pledges. 

Before diving into the specifics, it’s important to revisit the scope of the EU’s CO2 emissions and recall which member states are the most belligerent climate offenders. According to figures from 2020, the EU is responsible for 7.3 percent of global CO2 emissions – the third most globally, just after China and the United States. 

While one might assume that all EU member states pollute at approximately the same rate given similar levels of socio-economic development, one country stands alone as the EU’s largest CO2 emitter: Germany is responsible for 24.3 percent – nearly a quarter! – of the bloc’s emissions. Italy (11.3 percent), Poland (11.2 percent), France (10.7 percent), and Spain (8.2 percent) round out the top five European climate offenders, accounting for 65.7 percent of the bloc’s total CO2 emissions. 

While each and every country must be involved in working towards a greener future, the direction these five countries take will determine the EU’s climate trajectory.. 

Of the numerous alliances and policy declarations made at COP26 by EU member states, three emerge as the most progressive: the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (BOGA), the declaration to end foreign fossil fuel funding, and the declaration to move towards zero-emission cars by 2040. Notably, not all European countries, let alone those top five European climate offenders, are on board with these movements:

BOGA:

The Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance, organised by Denmark and Costa Rica, seeks to “facilitate the managed phase-out of oil and gas production,” which made up a whopping 91 percent of CO2 emissions in 2020. Of the EU member states, only Denmark, France, Ireland, Sweden, Portugal, and – most recently – Italy have joined. The notable absence of Germany from this constellation can be explained by its status as a prominent proponent of gas (as evidenced by the Nord Stream 2 pipeline); France’s participation also betrays its all-in orientation towards nuclear power rather than oil and gas energy sources. 

Fossil fuel funding:

The declaration to end foreign fossil fuel funding by 2022, which will pivot foreign investment in fossil fuels towards clean energy alternatives, is supported by the EU member states Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden. While France’s Agence Française de Développement (AFD) is on board, the government of France has chosen not to support this declaration. France has stated that it will continue to finance gas extraction until 2035. Poland has not committed itself to this pledge either, planning to phase out coal only in the 2040s.

Zero-emissions cars:

The movement to phase out combustion engines by 2040 is perhaps the most contentious of these pledges given its disproportionate implications for auto-making countries like Germany, France, and Italy - none of which agreed to its parameters. The EU-member states Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, and Sweden have signed on in support of the agreement. Notably, while Germany has not joined this pledge (citing its desire to develop lower-emissions synthetic fuels), Mercedes Benz has committed itself to the phase out while BMW and Volkwagen (the other two members of the so-called ‘Big Three’ German automakers) have remained quiet.

Ultimately, a lack of consistency pervaded European activity at COP26: individual nations have largely resisted taking on pledges that make them politically uncomfortable. While Germany requires the most urgency of the EU member states as the bloc’s largest CO2 emitter, its interests in preserving the viability of natural gas and combustion engines have kept it from taking the next radical step towards net-zero emissions. 

Italy, Poland, France, and Spain also have a lot to prove and their policy pledges have been similarly piecemeal. 

Climate summits like COP26 are urgently needed, that much is clear; but the evident lack of international solidarity suggests a general unwillingness for countries to work through discomfort – it’s only a matter of time before they’ll no longer have that choice. 

Photo by Guillaume Périgois 

Call to Action

EU: reduce your forest destruction footprint now!

Support now