Poland prevents the EU agreement to eliminate its CO ₂ emissions by 2050

The heads of state and government of the European Union (EU) have been unable to reach a unanimous agreement on Thursday to eliminate carbon dioxide (_CO2) emissions by 2050 because of Poland’s problems to assume this goal.

The Twenty-Eight will discuss this issue again in June next year. EU leaders already tried to reach unanimity of this agreement at the European summit last June, but the goal was then vetoed by Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Estonia.

On this occasion, only Poland has distanced itself from the pact, which was to be taken unanimously, which has prevented countries from reaching a binding agreement to achieve climate neutrality by mid-century. That is, reduce greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible and compensate for the rest.

This was explained by German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a press conference held in Brussels after the end of the meeting of EU leaders, in which she pointed out that Poland needs “more time” to adhere to this goal.

The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, has presented the outcome of the meeting as a success for the EU because there is an agreement on this matter, but he has admitted that a Member State cannot yet give its approval and, therefore, the Heads of State and Government must return to this issue in six months’ time.

“It is an important decision we made because neutrality is a common goal, but it is correct to say at the same time that, at the moment, a member state is not able to commit to implementing this objective, which means that there will be a new council meeting to consider the situation in this country,” the Belgian said.

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has also celebrated the result of the “intense debate” of the leaders that, in her opinion, has concluded with the endorsement of the Twenty-seven to their “complex” strategy for the climate.

Von der Leyen, in addition, has affirmed that “everyone” in the EU is aware that “not all regions start from the same point and that for some countries or sectors it will be more difficult to achieve” the objective of carbon neutrality.

In Madrid, time is pressing and, although the climate summit (COP25) is advancing steadily to reach a consensus on a global agreement against climate change, the negotiations could last at least until dawn.

In statements to Efe, the Spanish Secretary of State for the Environment, Hugo Morán, has indicated that there is a block of countries convinced that progress is being made in the negotiation and a society that continues to push, which “makes us hope that this summit will be able to give the appropriate answers on the capacity of agreement of the international community.”

However, Moran has qualified that “it is better to take all the time necessary to reach a good agreement.”

As is customary in these global climate events, the end could be extended until Saturday and, although the Chilean presidency – led by Carolina Schmidt – intends to have the document ready for the summit to end today, the biggest obstacle continues in the regulation of carbon markets.

Since last Tuesday – when ministers and high-level representatives arrived in Madrid to participate in the negotiations – and until today, this meeting has had little progress, which has motivated many sectors to appeal to ambition so that the Madrid Summit did not end in failure.

In the same vein, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, has spoken, who early this morning appealed on his Twitter account to greater ambition among all countries to prevent temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees.

The acting Spanish Minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, admitted on Thursday that “tensions” in the COP25 negotiations focus on the disparity of countries on the pace of their climate ambition.

The ministerial official, host of the meeting, added that we all “should be reducing our emissions” global pollutants, although “there are countries that hide behind what has so far been insufficient.”

“There are many parties that say that we have to go faster, have more ambition and reinforce the role of science, while others want us to stay in that small print of step by step and those two visions are already seen very clearly.”

That explains, according to Ribera, appointed as a facilitator – a figure to promote the negotiations – why many negotiating groups are still in a state of waiting, typical of these last days of discussions at the conference.

In his opinion, “ambition must be captured at this summit”, in a so-called transition appointment to that of Glasgow in 2020, when countries should increase their commitments to the climate, as they signed in the Paris Agreement.

This morning, Jeniffer Morgan, CEO of Greenpeace International, spoke on behalf of civil society and described as “unacceptable” that the negotiations continue to stall and appealed for an imminent solution, because “it costs more money not to act, than to make decisions now”.

Source: Expansión