After two weeks of negotiations, the Glasgow Climate Pact was adopted on Saturday 13 November. MEPs debate the outcome of the negotiations. Opening statements by Anže LOGAR, Slovenian Minister of Foreign Affairs and by Frans TIMMERMANS, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of the European Green Deal. This transcription is a result of an automatic process. Please check against delivery

statement

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

TIMMERMANS, Frans (NL, EC)

fight against climate change (T)

LOGAR, Anže (SI)

COP 26 (T)

Outcome of the COP26 in Glasgow: opening statements by Anže LOGAR, Slovenian Minister of Foreign Affairs and by Frans TIMMERMANS, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of the European Green Deal

SOUNDBITE (English), Anže LOGAR, Slovenian Minister of Foreign Affairs, President, honourable members, commissioner, climate change is the defining challenge of the century. International cooperation on both climate change mitigation and adaptation is critical to successfully addressing this challenge, which requires an unprecedented collective efforts from all countries. It is as well a priority of Slovenian presidency to concentrate efforts for green transition.

SOUNDBITE (English), Anže LOGAR, Slovenian Minister of Foreign Affairs, The UK presidency of COP26 has set four main objectives that needed to be achieved securing global net zero by mid-century and keep the 1.5 degrees target within reach, adapting to protect communities and natural habitats, mobilising finance is finalising the Paris Agreement rulebook.

SOUNDBITE (English), Anže LOGAR, Slovenian Minister of Foreign Affairs, After two weeks of intense discussion, COP26 resulted in the completion of the Paris Agreement rulebook and kept the Paris target alive. Improving our chances of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the Glasgow climate pact is a result of complex climate negotiations.

SOUNDBITE (English), Anže LOGAR, Slovenian Minister of Foreign Affairs, It is a package on which almost 200 parties reached a consensus. As regards mitigation, parties noted with serious concern the current gap between the aggregate mitigation pledges and the 1.5 degree goal, despite several net zero announcement. For this reason, parties are asked to submit various aligned 2030 targets in 2022, and an annual high level ministerial roundtable on pre 2030 ambition will be convened from 2022 onwards.

SOUNDBITE (English), Anže LOGAR, Slovenian Minister of Foreign Affairs, In a break from previous COPs, parties for the first time are called upon to accelerate efforts toward the phase down of unabated coal power and phase out of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies. During the first days of COP26, parties also announced a series of initiatives and commitments that bring the world closer to achieving the Paris goals.

SOUNDBITE (English), Anže LOGAR, Slovenian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Most notably, leaders signed the Glasgow Leaders Declaration on Forests and Land Use, committing more than 140 countries to halt and reverse for its loss and led degradation by 2030, and the Global Methane Pledge committing 100 countries to collectively reduce global methane emissions by 30 percent by 2030.

SOUNDBITE (English), Anže LOGAR, Slovenian Minister of Foreign Affairs, The Comm.ission signed this commitment on behalf of the European Union. As regards adaptation, a comprehensive two year work programme on the global goal on adaptation will be launched. Moreover, the Santiago Network for catalysing technical assistance to address loss and damage as a result of climate change has been strengthened, which is in particular important for the most vulnerable countries.

SOUNDBITE (English), Anže LOGAR, Slovenian Minister of Foreign Affairs, As regards finance, parties regrettably noted that the pledge of $100 billion in climate finance per year by 2020 has not been met. However, developed countries committed to reaching the goal as soon as possible and to at least double their collective provision of climate finance dedicated to adaptation in developing countries, but has made considerable progress in the COP corporate over allegation of the loss and damage mechanism and decided that it is the issue of financial commitment would be addressed at COP 27.

SOUNDBITE (English), Anže LOGAR, Slovenian Minister of Foreign Affairs, One of the main EU goals was the finalisation of the rule book and this was achieved as regards the rulebook of the Paris Agreement. The parties adopted rules on the transparency framework, guaranteeing sound reporting on climate action progress. Moreover, parties are encouraged to set five year common timeframes for 2040 onwards.

SOUNDBITE (English), Anže LOGAR, Slovenian Minister of Foreign Affairs, In addition, bodies reached an acceptable compromise on achieving rules governing the functioning of voluntary carbon markets, avoiding double counting. The EU was very well represented in the negotiation stance and as UK presidency appointed some EU minister as lead negotiator on finance, on mitigation, on adaptation and on loss and damage.

SOUNDBITE (English), Anže LOGAR, Slovenian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ministers met daily in UK ordination meetings to share the progress in negotiations and discuss tactics and lines to take to achieve an ambitious compromise. On this occasion, they were debriefed by the COP26 president Alok Sharma, and by the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

SOUNDBITE (English), Anže LOGAR, Slovenian Minister of Foreign Affairs, And I know that the European Parliament delegation was present in Glasgow, hold daily briefings with the Slovenian presidency and followed progress closely. All together, COP26 represent a significant step forward in global climate action, helping to keep the Paris goals within reach. There is, however, still a lot of work ahead of us in terms of mitigation, adaptation and finance in order to assure a safe future for humanity on this planet. Thank you very much.

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Thank you. Mr President, honourable members, COP26 did not solve the climate crisis. But that was also not the purpose of COP26. It had to bring the objectives of the Paris Agreement within reach and allow us to start implementing this deal. This it did. This COP sharp enough focus and gave us momentum.

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, I believe it does represent clear progress. I believe we're now travelling in the right direction, a direction set two years ago by the European Union. The Glasgow cop embraced the highest level of ambition of the Paris Agreement as our common target. We now have a global consensus on the need to limit climate change to 1.5 degrees.

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Ten days after COP26, this also almost seems like a given now, but 10 days before we began, the mantra was still below two degrees, and some countries even challenged the fact that Paris ever spoke of 1.5.

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, In addition, countries that do not have nationally determined contributions in line with this 1.5 degree target will have to come back next year to deliver the required update, and for the first time, the parties at COP26 agreed to phase down coal and fossil fuel subsidies. Whatever you may think about the precise language that was necessary to get the whole package over the finish line, this is a big win.

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Of course, if you compare to face down with the initial formulation to phase out, you're disappointed. But as Greenpeace said in Glasgow, changing a word doesn't change the signal. The era of coal is ending. Before Glasgow, the Commission set three objectives: one to push for emission cuts that brings us within Paris territory with that keeping global warming well below two degrees while aiming for 1.5.

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Second: to close the gap on the $100 billion climate finance goal, while ramping up support for adaptation. And third, to complete the Paris rulebook so that we can keep track of progress and hold countries to account. Past rulebook, which seems like an esoteric subject sometimes, but it's essential to have carbon markets actually function in a way we want them to function.

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, On all these three issues. We saw clear progress two years ago in Madrid in the COP in Madrid, the EU laid down our ambition for climate neutrality by 2050. At that stage, there was little to no movement from other major emitters in the G20. China, US but also Japan, South Korea, India, Russia, Saudi Arabia and others.

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Since then, each of these countries has announced targets of their own, varying from climate neutrality in 2050 to net zero carbon emissions in 2016. In a single case, 2070 India. 90 percent of the global economy is now on a net zero trajectory that was only 30 percent a year ago. We went to the COP on track for 2.7 degrees, way too much, but a lot less than the three or four degrees we were headed for in Paris.

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, And after COP, for the very first time, we have a shot at staying below two degrees. Now we will see in the coming weeks what the actual number is, but we still have a shot at staying below two degrees. I will not take into my narrative the 1.8 mentioned by the International Energy Agency. But let us see in the coming weeks when we do the calculation where we are, but we have a chance of staying below two degrees.

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Moreover, COP26 agreed to accelerate our actions still this decade and revisit INDCs next year with a focus on the 1.5 degrees. This new marker on the calendar is due to a push from the EU to keep the pressure on because the World Leaders Summit made clear that with the right pressure, ambition levels will in fact go up.

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Over one third of all global financing comes from the EU and its member states. We are doing our share and more, and we continue asking others to do the same. Heading into the COP, there was still a gap of about $20 billion on the development world's commitment. On the developed world commitment towards the developing world, this is why in this house, the president of the commission committed an additional four billion euros to climate finance.

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, It pressured others to do the same or to follow suit. Shortly after our commitments, the United States announced their own 11.4 Billion dollar commitment. During Glasgow, other donors added to this to bring us closer to this goal, and we may reach it next year instead of 2023. We also started to look beyond 2025 and long term needs. Adaptation finance will at least double and we will start a dialogue to discuss finance for loss and damage.

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Glasgow also strengthened the global network of agencies that provide immediate relief and assistance to countries who already suffer from the consequences of the climate crisis. And here, I must say, the EU and our member states played a leading role for member states, committed a total of 25 million dollars to the Santiago network for its functioning, and I think this is an important signal.

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, The issue of loss and damage will grow in importance to future COPs, and we should engage in it in all sincerity with those who already today suffer from climate induced catastrophes. If we really want to succeed at the next COP in Sharm El Sheikh, we now have to work closely, especially with our sister continent of Africa, in preparing this on adaptation and on finance, on carbon sinks, on how to best have nature based solutions, on how to help them in their energy transition.

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, All these things are crucial starting now, if we want Sharm el Sheikh to be a success. I already mentioned the completion of the Paris rulebook. Seems like a technical matter, but it's of essential importance for carbon markets to start to work because the essence of the global approach to be to decarbonisation is putting a price on carbon, and you have to be able to compare the way we do that for carbon markets to work well. And that now is possible because we can close the rulebook because it is agreed.

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, So what does this mean for the EU? Glasgow confirmed that the EU as a global leader and a necessary bridge builder. Our climate diplomacy, supported by credible policies and commitments, are carefully nurtured. Climate dialogues with countries like Japan, China, Turkey, our outreach to others like India, Brazil, Indonesia, who have helped to push all major emitters to step up their ambitition.

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Each of these countries will roll out and accelerate its own green transition. European companies who already frontrunners in renewables, and hydrogen in circular economy stand to benefit. Think, for example, of India which committed to reach 500 gigawatts in renewable energy by 2030. That is a massive opportunity, also economic opportunity for European industry.

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Honourable members, climate action knows no quick fixes. It will never be solved in a single conference, but the climate crisis is accelerating, and so should we. Fighting this crisis requires constant effort and unrelenting pressure on all governments, especially the major emitters. And it requires everybody's participation.

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, That is why it is also good that this COP strengthened the involvement of indigenous peoples, the youth and local government. Now we must set our sights on Sharm El Sheikh. As I said, getting fit for 55 adopted ahead of next year's COP will mean that yet again, the European Union is putting pressure on others to step up their game.

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, And all are following the fact that we are the only ones who have a real plan to get us to our emission reductions. Legally binding emission reductions by 2030 and 2050. In Europe, we must keep up the legislative work. You are so much in charge now with the Council to make it happen. We've come a long way, my friends, but we still have a very, very long way to go if we want to get where we need to be.

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Our situation and I have to say this, our situation is dire, but it's not hopeless. What needs to be done is bloody hard, much harder than most are willing to acknowledge today. But it is a path we must walk and walk it with speed and determination, for all our sakes. But first and foremost, for the sake of our children and grandchildren, it must be done. It can be done. It will be done.

SOUNDBITE (English), Frans TIMMERMANS, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, And please make it personal. Think of people you love. Think of people you want to act for. I think of my kids. I think of my grandson. And I also think of a girl, 15 year old girl. Her name was Rosa. She died on duty in the flood. She was a daughter of one of my Commission colleagues. I think of her today.