November 20, 2022

The EU at COP27 shouts louder empty promises

topic:	Climate action
located:	Denmark, United Kingdom, Austria, Germany, France, Ireland, Belgium
editor:	Abby Klinkenberg

COP27 has been heavily criticised for its tendency to produce high-flying rhetoric and grandiose promises without concrete action. This year is no different. While the European Union has released pretty PR statements about how the bloc is calling for the phase down of all fossil fuels and upping its greenhouse gas emissions reductions targets, these statements are thin veils over insufficient and uninspired policies. Underneath these promises, the European Union’s reluctance to lend its full support to the contentious loss and damage funding is an indicator that COP27 is ultimately just another iteration of the reactionary status quo.

Announcing its intention to increase its climate emissions reductions targets from 55 percent to 57 percent by 2030, the European Union offered its own metaphor for its approach to COP27. This 2 percent increase was posed by the EU’s climate policy chief Frans Timmermans as a reiteration of the wider European commitment to addressing climate change: “Don’t let anybody tell you, here or outside, that the EU is backtracking,” he said.

The fact is, in the face of the ongoing energy crisis, the EU is, indeed, backtracking: additional fossil fuel infrastructure is being developed across the bloc. According to the environmental NGO Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe, the EU must increase its greenhouse gas emissions target to 65 percent in order to “keep us in line with the Paris Agreement and help us to avoid the unprecedented costs of dangerous climate change.” In this context, the 2 percent offered by Timmermans falls especially flat.

Alongside the unveiling of the EU’s new 57 percent goal at COP27 is the bloc’s backing of the phase down of all fossil fuels. Obviously, this sounds excellent - the planet absolutely needs to work towards ending reliance on fossil fuels - but the phrasing of the target itself is the issue. Last year at COP26, discourse on and commitments to the ‘phase out’ of coal were ultimately watered down to a less radical ‘phase down’ and, while this year’s statement is more broad in that it encompasses all fossil fuels, the ‘phase down’ language still allows for more wiggle room than the planet can afford as humanity stares down the barrel of global climate emergency.

One of the most critical topics of COP27 was that of ‘loss and damage,’ referring to the remuneration sought by countries in the Global South from those in the Global North to address costs related to losses and damages caused by climate change. Since the climate crisis largely falls at the feet of the Global North - which is “disproportionately responsible for global warming” - it only makes sense that the Global North bears financial responsibility for the harm it has caused. The agenda item of loss and damage was only added to COP27 at the very last moment in a seeming victory for climate justice. The only problem is that as soon as it is time to commit funds to this purpose, the EU has not acted as a bloc.

Individual European nations have pledged funding to loss and damage, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, and Scotland. In fact, at last year’s COP26, held in Glasgow, Scotland was the only EU entity that pledged any funding at all to loss and damage - to the tune of $2.2 million. At this year’s COP27, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon doubled down on Scotland’s commitment, pledging an additional $5.7 million to the cause. Austria and Ireland offered pledges of €50 million and $10 million USD, respectively, on the heels of Ursula von der Leyen’s endorsement of mobilising funds for loss and damage purposes.

First Minister Sturgeon spoke to the ethical implications of the EU’s stance on the issue: “This is a really fundamental question of climate justice. The rich world has a responsibility here.” Alas, despite the worsening effects of the climate crisis, the West - and the EU in particular - seems to be forsaking its responsibility in favour of more empty promises and sweet nothings.

Photo by Chris LeBoutillier

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