Benedek Jávor (Verts/ALE), in writing. – At COP22, parties reaffirmed their collective commitment to implement the Paris Agreement – despite the outcome of the US elections.

Unfortunately, the EU has also failed to put forward any new measures to help close the emission gap, to hold global warming to well below 2°C, and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1,5°C. Thus, COP24 in 2018 will be the next moment for countries to increase their ambition and scale up emission reduction pledges, and the EU’s leadership is crucial. We must start walking the talk and prioritise energy transition by ramping up our own policies and inadequate climate and energy targets.

To this end, now we need an ambitious energy winter package for 2030 which promotes energy savings and efficiency measures, high renewables penetration as well as proper governance of the Energy Union. However, it seems that EC rather wants to subsidise new fossil fuel capacities and undermine market access for renewables.

The credibility of the EU and our common future is at stake. We need to take commitments made in Paris seriously: substantially reducing GHG emissions in the short term and bringing emissions to zero in the longer term –it is our only chance.