2023-10-17 00:04:39
– The EU will defend the virtual elimination of fossil fuels
After long debates, the 27 countries of the European Union managed to adopt a common position this Monday for COP28, scheduled for Dubai in early December.
Published today at 02:04
The Europeans are also calling for aiming for “entirely or predominantly carbon-free” electricity production on a global scale from “the 2030s”.
AFP
The EU will defend at COP28 the elimination of fossil fuels burned without CO2 capture, with a peak in their global consumption from “this decade”, according to the common position of the Twenty-Seven adopted on Monday.
The Europeans will also call for eliminating “as soon as possible” fossil fuel subsidies which do not serve to combat energy poverty or ensure “a just transition” – but without setting a deadline as the NGOs hoped.
“The transition to a climate-neutral economy will require the global elimination of ‘unabated’ fossil fuels, that is to say burned without CO2 capture or storage, summarized the European Council, at following a meeting of EU environment ministers. At the same time, the Twenty-Seven will advocate “an energy sector (which is) predominantly without fossil fuels well before 2050” – a formula expressed this time without the mention “unabated”.
“No alternative”
EU ministers, meeting in Luxembourg, bitterly clashed over the inclusion of this controversial word in the negotiating mandate given to the new European Climate Commissioner, the Dutchman Wopke Hoekstra, who will represent them at the COP28 conference. United Nations climate conference scheduled from November 30 to December 12 in Dubai.
In unison with NGOs, some countries wanted to remove the adjective “unabated” or attach it to restrictions on the use of carbon capture technologies, for fear that this would serve as a pretext to continue burning fossils. and offers an escape route to the oil and gas sector.
“We will need these technologies in sectors where emissions in production are inevitable, such as cement (…) But there is no alternative to the gradual abandonment of fossils, that must be clear,” had warned Austrian Minister Leonore Gewessler.
“Well before 2050”
“These technologies are interesting, but cannot alone take care of the majority of emissions: they must be reserved (for sectors) that we do not know how to decarbonize otherwise,” added her French counterpart Agnès Pannier-Runacher. Ultimately, the adjective was retained in the text, but is no longer mentioned in the formulation of the long-term objective of a predominantly fossil-free “energy system” “well before 2050”.
In the immediate future, CO2 capture technologies will be necessary but “must be reserved for sectors for which it is difficult to wean ourselves off fossils for part of the industrial process”, explained after the meeting the Spanish Minister Teresa Ribera, whose the country holds the rotating presidency of the EU.
“The long-term objective remains that fossils are gradually eliminated from the energy mix,” she insisted. Many countries will push at COP28 to secure an unprecedented commitment from humanity to move away from “unabated” fossil fuels. However, it will be “extremely difficult”, predicts Wopke Hoekstra. “It’s an equation with more than 190 entities, but there is no other choice,” he said.
The Europeans are also calling for aiming for “entirely or predominantly carbon-free” electricity production on a global scale from “the 2030s”. Other commitments made by the EU: a tripling of installed renewable energy capacities by 2030, as well as a doubling of energy efficiency, in line with the roadmap of the president of COP28.
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