At a time when our planet is warming at an unprecedented rate, environment and energy experts gathered in Brussels at the PES Environment, Climate Change, and Energy Network (ECEN) with one clear message: the European Union must lead in global climate action now.
With COP30 on the horizon in Belém Brazil from November 10th to 21st, and Europe’s credibility as a global leading actor is at stake. Our family is pressing for an ambitious updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) – climate action plans of Parties that signed the Paris Agreement – and a robust, science-based 2040 target that sets a clear pathway for industries and sectors to reduce net emissions and protects people, jobs and the planet. Submitting an ambitious, credible NDC, and establishing a domestic 2040 objective in European Climate Law, is how we turn promises into proof, restore Europe’s authority on the global stage, and reach climate neutrality by 2050.
During the meeting, ECEN chair and S&D MEP Javi López stated:
“It has been a decade since the Paris Agreement was adopted under Socialist French President François Hollande and ten years after Paris, we urgently need more climate action. We could not disagree more with President Trump’s speech at the UN this week: Climate Change is not a hoax, it is a scientifically proven reality and is an existential threat. If we let the right water down the European Climate Law and targets, we don’t just lose time, we lose trust, and the EU sends a weak message on its climate commitments. We are all aware that the EPP has recently teamed up with the far right to influence the European Climate Law and the 2040 target, a move that places the legislation in jeopardy.
The global situation is critical. Our family’s position is clear: the EU must submit an ambitious NDC ahead of COP30 with a forward-looking climate target, and we need to accelerate action to meet the goals set by the Paris agreement and to limit global temperatures from rising 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
As S&D Shadow Rapporteur on the Revision of the European Climate Law, I stress that the EU must be a global leader in the fight against climate change. We cannot afford further delays or hesitation.’’
Participants from the PES member parties, the S&D Group, the PES Group in the European Committee of the Regions, trade unions, foundations, and civil society emphasised that citizens are already living the consequences of extreme weather events and the cost of inaction. Heatwaves, floods, and droughts are damaging homes and harvests, pushing up economic losses and infrastructure damage, and threatening the public health of citizens and ecosystems.
Families feel the shock of volatile fossil-fuel prices in their monthly bills. Industries and sectors need clear decarbonisation pathways to attract investments and resources for the green transition, boost their resilience and competitiveness, and ensure a fair, just transition for all. That is why we need to continue shifting away from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources and stay on path to climate neutrality by 2050. The Progressive family therefore urges the EU to adopt a 90 domestic net emissions reduction by 2040, aligned with science, and to put Energy Efficiency First at the heart of climate policy to guarantee a cost-effective, socially just, green transition. However, they share concerns with the inclusion of international carbon credits that could undermine domestic ambition and effective investments in Europe and support a limited role in permanent carbon dioxide removals.
At the same time, the network recognises the efforts of the Danish Council Presidency of the EU and the leadership of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in maintaining high ambition and building consensus towards a credible 2040 outcome. In addition, participants reiterated the complex political landscape marked by coordinated attempts from the right and far right to water down the Green Deal just as climate impacts intensify. Europe cannot pause its green transition.
