European Union (EU) climate envoy Wopke Hoekstra wants less 'drama' and more implementation at the upcoming United Nations climate conference, COP31 in Turkey. He also aims to emphasize the EU's carbon pricing policy and electrification of energy uses.
BRUSSELS: The EU wants less “drama” at the next United Nations climate conference in November in Turkey , the bloc’s climate envoy Wopke Hoekstra said Thursday.
European countries were deeply frustrated by last year’s COP30 climate conference in Brazil, which produced a watered-down final text that lacked any explicit mention of a fossil-fuel transition. The European Union is now seeking a new approach to have greater influence at the next major UN climate conference, COP31, in the southern Turkish city of Antalya, from Nov 9 to 20.
Hoekstra, the European climate commissioner, told journalists in a briefing that he wants to avoid the dramatic twists of the last 10 years “with ministers running around and then doing wordsmithing around four o’clock in the morning.
“I think we can do without a lot of drama and we need more implementation. ” He said there needed to be “clarity on the agenda” from the outset and “not trying to revisit or redo the conversation of last year”. Hoekstra said the EU wants to push the electrification of energy uses and highlight its carbon pricing policy at COP31.
The head of COP31 negotiations, Australian climate minister Chris Bowen, said Thursday that electrification would be a central issue at the conference in Turkey. Speaking at the end of a climate ministerial meeting in Copenhagen, Bowen said COP31 would be remembered “as one which consolidated and built on the inevitable journey of electrification and renewable energy, and we’re determined to make sure that’s the case”.
Hoekstra urged more initiatives led by coalitions of countries, outside the framework of the climate conference, which is hampered by the unanimity rule. He highlighted the gathering in Santa Marta, Colombia, which brought together some 50 nations last month to try to accelerate the phase-out of fossil fuels.
He also praised a French-Canadian initiative to decarbonise global aviation, and pointed to European diplomacy to develop a global carbon pricing system, similar to the carbon market in place in the EU since 2005, which requires heavy polluters pay for the greenhouse gases they emit. The EU scheme “is something that has also inspired others”. The commissioner said there had been technical cooperation with China, while there was political progress in Brazil, Chile and Mexico.
The European Union’s approach to COP31 is the subject of debate among the 27 member states. France has criticised the negotiations and wants the EU to take a firmer stance with emerging countries that it says are dragging their feet. France’s ecological transition minister Monique Barbut has singled out India.
COP31 United Nations Climate Conference Turkey European Union Wopke Hoekstra Electricity Carbon Pricing Drama Implementation Unanimity Rule
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