COP29: MEPs want all countries to contribute financially to climate action

Financial goal should be socially fair - all polluters must pay

EU should step up its green diplomacy

Need to expand global emissions trading and carbon pricing

Parliament adopted its demands for the UN Climate Change Conference COP29, which aims to define a new collective goal for financing climate action.

The resolution, prepared by the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, and approved on Thursday with 429 votes in favour, 183 against and 24 abstentions, calls on all countries to agree on a post-2025 new collective goal on climate finance that is socially fair, aligned with the polluter-pays principle, and based on a variety of public, private and innovative sources of finance.

MEPs want all major and emerging economies with high emissions and high GDP to contribute financially to global climate action. They call on the EU to step up its green diplomacy to help create an international level playing field, avoid carbon leakage, and increase public support for climate action. The EU should encourage and support other countries to introduce or improve carbon pricing mechanisms, such as its emissions trading system and carbon border adjustment mechanism.

COP29 must send an “unambiguous signal” as a follow-up to the COP28 commitment to transition away from fossil fuels, MEPs add, including the phase-out of all direct and indirect fossil fuels subsidies as soon as possible and the reallocation of these resources towards climate action.

Background

COP29 takes place from 11 to 22 November 2024 in Baku (Azerbaijan). A Parliament delegation will attend the gathering between 18 and 22 November.

COP29 aims to provide an overview of current progress on the implementation of the Paris Agreement and reach an agreement on new financial resources to support global climate action.