The European Union will reject any global climate deal that is not ambitious enough, but there is “no Plan B” if negotiations in Paris this December fail, EU climate action commissioner Miguel Cañete warned in an exclusive interview with The Guardian.
“For us, it’s very important to have a deal – but not any kind of deal,” he said.
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“The commissioner’s tough talking marks a new line from the EU, which has previously been seen as dovish, trying to smooth over differences among developing and developed countries,” Harvey writes. “Cañete is embarking on an exhausting round of visits to developing country capitals, from Latin America to Papua New Guinea, to try to garner support for a Paris agreement.”
She adds that the EU is urging heads of state to “urgently instruct their negotiating ministers to come forward with plans for a deal that would involve cutting emissions, rich countries providing the poor with financial assistance, and putting in place sweeping new measures to help poor nations adapt to the ravages of global warming.”
The 28 EU states are calling for a two-step climate finance plan for developing countries—the US$100 billion per year through 2020 that has already been promised, followed by an escalating fund in future years. The added strand on protecting critical infrastructure is crucial, Cañete added: “We have to put adaptation at the centre of the negotiations, for the developing countries,” he said.
