Frans Timmermans: “We lost a year with COP27”

Vice President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans expresses his opinion “big disappointment” After the climate conference (COP27) in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, and defends Brussels’ action on the environmental issue.

“The world won’t thank us,” you commented at the end of COP27. Do you think its results are inconsistent with the climate emergency?

This COP27 was very disappointing. No mention of the end of fossil fuels, no mention of a date for peak greenhouse gas emissions, no renewal of so-called national reduction commitments… nothing has been done to reduce emissions. We lost a year. And we had to fight like mad to avoid going back, to save the achievements of COP26. this is not enough.

In Glasgow, we committed to the most emitting countries making more ambitious projects to further reduce emissions, and most have not done so. If we lose more time, it means we have to do more in the remaining time. Politically and technically it is becoming more and more difficult.

Does this mean that the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C has become unattainable?

The 1.5°C target is dying, but still alive. The more time passes, the more difficult it becomes to contain it. And the more the measures taken will be expensive and painful. That’s why we should use the time we have left: every year, every month, every week, every day. But this target depends not only on Europe, but also on the G20 countries, which are responsible for 80% of global emissions. So unless there is real change in China, India and other G20 countries, we will never get there.

But if we see the investments that these two countries are making in renewable energies, it is still noteworthy, especially in China. I still hold out hope that the latter will be able to peak emissions before 2030. In this case, 1.5°C remains possible. So we have to work with the Chinese to try to get there.

The agreement to finance the “damages and losses” of the countries most vulnerable to global warming was nevertheless hailed as a historic…

This is the great success of this COP27. And we owe it partly to the European Union [UE], Because our proposal was accepted. This means that we can restore the relationship between North and South.