EU urges world's largest economies to set tougher climate change targets

A view of a fire near Petralia Soprana, in the upper Madonie, near Palermo, Sicily, Italy, as many wildfires continue plaguing the region. Picture: Italian Firefighters via AP

A top European Union diplomat has called on the worlds largest economies to set tougher targets on climate change before the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in November.

In an EEAS blog post, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that all major economies must take "ambitious enough, measurable and verifiable 2030 targets and climate neutrality commitments."

He added: “The coming decade will be decisive for keeping global warming below 2 degrees Celsius, as required by the 2015 Paris agreement.” 

Earlier in the week, a new UN report set out a stark message on the state of the climate crisis, raising pressure on Governments here and abroad to act.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports that some level of climate change is now irreversible and that extreme weather events are linked to climate change.

Irish sea levels have risen by about 16 centimetres since the foundation of the State, bringing with it the risk of “significant coastal flooding”, one of the report’s authors has said Picture: Leon Farrell/RollingNews.ie

In Europe, a heatwave fed by hot air from North Africa has engulfed large parts of the Mediterranean region in recent days, contributing to massive wildfires and killing dozens of people in Italy, Turkey and Algeria.

In Greece, huge wildfires have ravaged forests for a week, destroying homes and forcing evacuations, while in Sicily a monitoring station recorded a temperature of 48.8C, the highest temperature ever recorded in Europe.

Mr Borrell said that as the EU is a major developed economy, it should lead by example in setting bold targets.

"As one of the most economically developed areas in the world, we are among those who emit and have emitted in the past the most greenhouse gases responsible for climate change," he said.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that all major economies must take "ambitious enough, measurable and verifiable 2030 targets and climate neutrality commitments."

Both the EU and US have set tougher targets to reduce carbon emissions, with US president Joe Biden promising to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, a target set into law by the European states.

However, China India and Russia are among those countries under international pressure to adopt stronger targets in time for the Glasgow summit.

Meanwhile, a new report has found Ireland is becoming warmer and wetter due to climate change, with extreme weather events more becoming frequent.

The Status of Ireland’s Climate study has outlined that greenhouse gas levels hit a record high in 2019, rain fall has increased by 6% in recent decades, and the country’s temperature has risen by one degrees over the last century.

Sea levels have risen by about 16 centimetres since the foundation of the State, bringing with it the risk of “significant coastal flooding”, one of the report’s authors has said.