PE calls for greater effort to reduce greenhouse gases

The European Parliament (EP) today approved a resolution urging the European Union (EU) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030, up 15% from its current target.

Support for a marked increase in EU climate targets in the light of the Paris Agreement is about one month away from the Katovice international conference in Poland (Conference of Parties, COP24).

The resolution was adopted in Strasbourg by 239 votes to 145, with 23 abstentions.

“The necessary technological solutions are available and are becoming more and more cost-competitive. All EU policies should be aligned with the long-term objectives of the Paris Agreement” (to reduce greenhouse gas emissions), points out the EP in a statement.

Since the signing of the Agreement at the end of 2015, the EU has adopted a set of legislative measures to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, including energy efficiency, renewable energy and carbon market reform.

The European Commissioner for Climate Action, Miguel Arias Canete, argues that the EU can reduce emissions by 45% by 2030 thanks to the new laws.

In early October, Environment ministers from the 28 states said it was “more urgent than ever to intensify global efforts to avoid the dangerous effects of climate change.”

The call today voted by Parliament for a major effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is a contribution to limiting the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees, the Climate Action Network said.

The Portuguese environmental organization Zero also considered the resolution important, but stressed that the EU needs “concrete and immediate action”.

Reaching the 45% would approximate “European countries the effort that is needed to keep global temperature increase below 1.5 ° C,” Zero stresses in a statement, adding that the with the appeal deputies are “to strengthen climate leadership” of the EU.

And alert Zero: “To stay below the 1.5 ° C limit, the EU as a whole will have to significantly increase the target set for 2030, possibly in addition to this 55% reduction, to achieve greenhouse gas emissions neutrality of greenhouse until 2040 “.

Eugénio Sequeira, president of the League for the Protection of Nature (LPN), was also pleased with the resolution and warned of the urgency of taking action. “We are already paying dearly,” said the climate change expert, adding, “People thought they were 20 or 30 years old, but the effects are felt much sooner and faster.”