The Paris climate change agreement should not leave out aviation and shipping, two sectors whose emissions are rocketing and, if left unregulated, could account for up to 40% of all global emissions by 2050, (according to a European Parliament study), said the EP delegation on December 8th,2015 . MEPs also advocate earmarking carbon market revenues as a possible solution for financing climate efforts.
“An agreement is achievable on Thursday, and we hope to have a new text tomorrow. But the most difficult issues, this Tuesday, remain unresolved”, said EP delegation chairman Giovanni La Via (EPP, IT). “This is a trust-building exercise: developing countries want to be certain that the finance promised in Copenhagen will be delivered, while developed countries want to be reassured that this effort will not rest only on their shoulders after 2020”, he said.
“The key, in this final stretch of talks, is for all parties to leave the comfort zone of usual “realpolitik” bargaining and overcome divisions inherited form the past”, he added.
Aviation and shipping must not be left out
“Another priority for us here is to make sure that aviation and shipping are not left out. They are mentioned in the latest draft, and we want them to remain” said delegation vice-chair Matthias Groote (S&D, DE).“We have set ourselves very ambitious targets in the EU. But when we talk about international aviation and shipping, no measures are being evisaged”, he said, adding that “Paris needs to set a clear mandate, so that we don’t have a situation where some industries are overburdened and others are simply spared any effort”.
“The European project was itself founded on the idea of managing something jointly” said European Parliament rapporteur on COP21 Gilles Pargneaux (S&D, FR).
“This is why we promote a European solution at global level: we did it for coal and steel, let’s do it with carbon too. Our experience with the EU carbon market is already being transposed to other regions and could, if implemented globally, help us raise more money for climate adaptation”.
Source: European Parliament News
