COP29: MEPs tough on climate finance, vague on fossil fuel phase-out

The European Parliament’s environment committee wants the EU to push for more major economies and polluters to contribute to a global climate adaptation fund at the COP29 summit next month, but showed little bite when it comes to exiting oil and gas.

A central agenda point at the forthcoming Baku summit is the post-2025 new ‘collective quantified goal for climate finance’ to help countries, especially in the global south, adapt to a climate that is already on average 1.3 degrees hotter than in the pre-industrial era and invest in green energy and other sustainable development.

In a draft resolution adopted by 54 votes to 23 on Monday evening, MEPs cite estimates that as much as a trillion dollars will be needed each year, and the fund should “encompass a broadened contributor base reflecting Parties’ evolving financial capabilities and historical emission levels”.

It is intended to replace the annual $100bn (€92.5bn) required of a handful of developed countries under the 2015 Paris Agreement. MEPs are clearly referring to major economic power, notably China and other so-called BRICS countries, who are still classed as ‘developing’ – suggesting recipients rather than donors – for the purposes of global climate financing.

However, despite bullish wording on finance, MEPs were notably timid when it came to the thorny question of a fossil fuel phase-out, another key agenda item for Baku.

They agreed that it was “both necessary and technologically feasible” and said COP29 must send an “unambiguous signal” that countries are serious about the undertaking made at last year’s summit in Dubai to take steps to “transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewables and energy efficiency in a just, orderly, equitable manner”.

But they stopped short of calling for a specific phase-out date for the use of coal, oil and gas – a fact that Green MEP Lena Schilling blamed on the conservative EPP group and the swollen ranks of factions further to the right.

“From a climate activist and science perspective, the EU needs a clear commitment to phasing out fossil fuels and raising its own climate ambitions until 2040,” Schilling said. “This is also important to establish trust from other countries and a strong negotiation stance during the COP negotiations.”

The European Commission is due to propose early next year a new emissions reduction target for 2040, with climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra having pledged to push for a goal of at least 90% below 1990 levels.

The environment committee sharply criticised the choice of Azerbaijan as host nation for COP29, noting that oil and gas made up over 90% of exports, with plans for expansion, and that the summit’s president-designate Mukhtar Babayev worked for decades in the state oil company Socar. It also stressed its “profound concern regarding the human rights situation” in the country.

The European Parliament is sending a 15-strong cross-party delegation to the summit in Baku, but its role is largely observervational, with the European Commission leading negotiations on the basis of a mandate agreed by EU governments last week. The environment committee said the parliament “should be an integral part of the EU delegation at COP29, given that it must give its consent to international agreements”.

The European Parliament as a whole will vote on the resolution on 13 or 14 November, a couple of days after the start of the two-week summit in the Azeri capital.