Eastern countries hinder the EU’s fight against climate change

The European Union is stumbling in the fight against climate change. At least, for now. The 28 governments of the Union tried to agree at the European summit on Thursday in Brussels a historic commitment that would set for the first time by 2050 the goal of a continental economy free of CO2 emissions. But some Eastern European partners, led by Poland, have prevented the pact and forced it to be downgraded to a mere declaration of intent signed by a majority of the partners. The pact was intended to be a political response to the energy policies of Donald Trump, who has questioned the fight against climate change and the Paris Agreement. But the Union’s counter-offensive has, for the time being, been up in the air.

The fight against climate change has entered the European agenda with force in the middle of the electoral rise of the Greens. But despite the fact that diplomatic sources stressed in recent days that all the members of the club have assumed that it is necessary to act, among the 28 there are still disparate sensibilities. The test came on Thursday night in Brussels.

Most governments were seeking to close a deal to ensure a transition to EU climate neutrality by 2050. That is, they do not emit more greenhouse gases than can be absorbed. But opposition from countries such as Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Estonia thwarted the deal, laboriously woven over the past few weeks.

The Polish government flatly refused because of the lack of concreteness of the financing and compensation mechanisms that would help the countries with the most difficulties in achieving decarbonization in 2050. “We have been negotiating this mechanism for two years but it has not yet materialized,” Polish sources said after vetoing the agreement.

The same sources pointed to Warsaw’s willingness to return to the negotiating table “as soon as the rest of the partners demonstrate the will to reach an agreement on financing.” But the Polish veto, for the moment, has jeopardized Europe’s contribution to the climate summit that the United Nations will organize in September and that was intended to be the reaffirmation of the fight against climate change in the face of governments like Trump’s.

The supporters of strengthening the European position seem condemned to conform to a declaration signed by the vast majority of partners, in which they commit to bet on climate neutrality in 2050. The reference to that commitment, initially promoted by France and Spain and to which 15 European partners have already joined, would be relegated to a footnote in the conclusions of the European summit that concludes this Friday in Brussels.

Although the more than three decades ahead may suggest that there is plenty of time to take action, the commitment, if achieved, would entail far-reaching transformations in the very long term. Just a few months ago, such a proposal didn’t even seem to be considerable given the resistance of countries with significant dependence on coal such as Poland or Germany. But the winds began to turn under the impulse of France and Spain. And a month ago an initiative was launched to incorporate the goal of zero emissions by 2050

Belgium, Denmark, France, Luxembourg, Holland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden commanded that initial group. “Then eight countries signed, now we are already 15,” French President Emmanuel Macron congratulated himself upon his arrival at the European summit on Thursday. “There is a growing consensus for ambitious conclusions at this summit,” he added.

The forecast did not come true. Germany, which had resisted the objective, changed its position a few weeks ago, but it was not enough to tilt the forces towards the agreement. And although it seems unlikely that the pact will end up dying on the shore, Warsaw’s refusal postpones the movement.

Fears in Poland and other Central and Eastern European countries that decarbonisation would jeopardise the competitiveness of their industries remained alive despite the fact that numerous safeguards on the potential impact of the energy transition were incorporated into the text. It all comes down to one word: money. The European Commission has already put on the table to devote 25% of the EU budget for 2021-2027 to environmental policies, and France offered to raise that threshold to 40% to convince reluctant countries, but Poland seeks to ensure a sufficient cushion to face such a drastic change.

Elysee sources avoided describing as “compensations” the funds they have made available to the countries with the most problems to develop the energy transition. Instead, they preferred to speak of “financial accompaniment” to companies and regions and of “sharing efforts” through a display of “European solidarity”. With one name or another, the Polish miner can become the symbol of a species in danger of extinction if the obstacles are overcome, with which Warsaw seeks to obtain sufficient guarantees for this reconversion.

The end result freezes European ambitions just at a very delicate geostrategic moment for the future of global climate and energy policies. Only 24 hours earlier, the Administration of Donald Trump approved its new energy strategy (after repealing Obama’s) in which it clearly bets on a recovery of coal.

Despite the disappointment, diplomatic sources see a general shift, also in the most reluctant countries. Poland remained for weeks in a position that they described as “dogmatic” in this regard, but they believe that no State questions the legitimacy and need to decarbonize the economy, an objective that until the Paris agreements was questioned by certain governments, including some Europeans, and that has now become a transversal axis that covers fields as diverse as the reduction of transport emissions, the energy mix and the signing of trade agreements.

Source: The Country