{"id":6347,"date":"2021-03-11T09:39:13","date_gmt":"2021-03-11T09:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greens-efa.eu\/dossier\/?p=6347"},"modified":"2021-03-11T16:30:01","modified_gmt":"2021-03-11T16:30:01","slug":"the-case-for-a-european-climate-change-council","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greens-efa.eu\/dossier\/the-case-for-a-european-climate-change-council\/","title":{"rendered":"The case for a European Climate Change Council"},"content":{"rendered":"
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12.03.2021<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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Read Issue 1: All About the Climate Law <\/em>here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em>
Read Issue 2: Responding to a Crisis: Climate and Corona <\/em>here.<\/em><\/a>
Read Issue 3: Will COVID-19 Destroy or Empower the European Green Deal here<\/a><\/em>
Read Issue 4: Financing the Green Deal here<\/a><\/em>
Read Issue 5: The EU Recovery Plan here<\/a><\/em>
Read Issue 6: The Mercosur Trade Agreement: A Lose-Lose Deal here<\/a><\/em>
Read Issue 7: Farm to Fork Strategy here<\/a><\/em>
Read Issue 8: The European Climate Targets by 2030 here<\/a><\/em>
Read Issue 9: How Trees Can Stop Climate Change here<\/a><\/em>
Read Issue 10: Getting out of the red: The Greenhouse Gas Budget here<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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Back in October 2020,\nthe European Parliament voted on the European Climate Law<\/a>. Amazingly, the Greens\/EFA Group were able to push the\nParliament\u2019s target reduction in greenhouse gases from only 40% to 60% by 2030!\nThis led to a compromise of a 55% target<\/a> during the negotiations with the European Council.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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Ask your minister to support a European Climate Change Council. (We have a draft ready below <\/strong><\/a>\ud83d\udc47)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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Even though this was a\nhuge victory for climate change campaigners and we successfully pushed the EU\u2019s\ntarget way up, we know that it’s still insufficient if we compare that target\nto the 1.5\u00b0C global warming<\/a> carbon budget laid out by the Intergovernmental Panel on\nClimate Change (IPCC).<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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This is a big problem:\npoliticians are making decisions without listening to science. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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Wouldn\u2019t it be great\nto have a body in the EU to assess and evaluate climate change policies, and to\ncheck that they are in line with the science and the targets laid out in the\nParis Agreement? Well, here is some good news! While everyone was voting on the\npercentage of the climate target by 2030, the European Parliament passed a\nproposal to establish a European Climate\nChange Council<\/strong> (ECCC). <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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The European Climate\nChange Council is now being discussed as part of the negotiations following the\nClimate Law vote. It’s crucial that the EU Council and EU Commission see this\nas a necessary step towards ambitious climate action.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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Fridays For Future with Greta Thunberg<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n
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What is the ECCC and why is it important? <\/h3>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n
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The most important task of the ECCC\nwould be to assess whether the EU\u2019s laws are consistent with their set targets.\nThis is important for transparency but also because it makes no sense to set\nclimate targets if we don\u2019t check whether we are reaching them. It would also\nbe the first scientific body in the EU to check the likelihood of remaining\nwithin our greenhouse gas budget<\/a>,\nwhich sets out the red line after which climate breakdown is inevitable and\nirreversible. As you can imagine, it\u2019s important we don\u2019t cross it.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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Another job of the ECCC would be to\ndetermine the possible and future damage to the climate in the event of\ninadequate measures or the failure to follow up on the set targets and\npromises. This is very important because it provides the necessary sense of\nurgency for the EU to act ambitiously. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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The ECCC will also take into account\nhuman rights, which are at the core of the climate crisis and too often\nignored. By 2050, the number of climate refugees is expected to rise by half a\nbillion. Food and water supplies in many countries will reduce by half, and\nheatwaves, floods and forest fires will make entire regions uninhabitable. The\nlungs of our planet \u2013 the Amazon rainforest and the oceans \u2013 are being burned\ndown and acidified, displacing indigenous communities and wrecking livelihoods\ndependent on those resources. Over all, climate-related violations of human\nrights is an argument that is far too little addressed. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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Amazon rainforest\/ CC0 Andres Medina<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n
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And finally, the ECCC would be\nappointed to identify possible measures and actions that the EU could do to\nreduce greenhouse gas emissions, enhance biodiversity and take all the\nnecessary measures to tackle the climate crisis. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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It\u2019s actually unbelievable that so\nmany policies are being written without scientific assessment or advice. If\npolitics and science don\u2019t collaborate in the climate crisis, we will never\nreach the necessary targets. We can only mobilise society to act and change a\nsystem if we use science to explain its importance. The climate crisis has\nbecome a political game without a referee. By inviting independent scientists,\nthe rules of that game will change. Politicians will no longer have a carte\nblanche to decide climate policy. There will be people at the negotiating table\nholding them accountable for those decisions.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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Climate march\/ CC0 Mika Baumeister<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n
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Some countries already have their own Climate Change Council. Why do we need a European one?<\/h3>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n
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The European\nClimate Change Council is not an unprecedented idea in Europe. In recent years,\ndifferent countries have passed a Climate Law establishing a scientific body in\ncharge of collecting data and assessing climate policies, like the ECCC. These\nhave been settled by national laws and each has different characteristics.\nGenerally, the more they are independent from the government that established\nthem, the more they are able to speak freely. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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The PBL\nNetherlands Environmental Assessment Agency regularly depicts alarming\nscenarios saying that the Dutch government is failing to reach<\/a>\nits own emissions reduction target, let alone its Paris Agreement one<\/a>.\nIn 2008, the UK\u2019s Committee on Climate Change advised<\/a> the government that 4\u00b0C was the\nthreshold of “extreme danger”; and then last year, given the\ngovernment’s perpetual failings, it recommended preparing for a 4\u00b0C world as a priority action<\/a> for all\ndepartments. These reports have been used in successful climate litigation\ncases to show the government’s deliberate negligence when it comes to climate\nchange. They proved that the government was informed about their policies’\ninsufficiency and the devastating effects of the climate crisis, but did not\nact accordingly.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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The ECCC is\ntherefore an important and necessary step to monitor and report on the climate\nemergency at EU level, amplifying the voice of science and helping climate litigation campaigns<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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Of course,\nwe\u2019re missing more than just updated scientific reporting. We are lacking the\nmedia that properly covers them and the political will to listen and respond\naccordingly. For decades the <\/a>scientific community<\/a> has sounded the alarm. Each year, the UN publishes a <\/a>report<\/a> showing the gap between where\nglobal emissions are and where they should be to avoid the worst impacts of\nclimate change. Recently, the UN <\/a>made it clear<\/a> that the\nnational plans (NDCs) presented so far put us on a path to achieve only a 1%\nreduction of global greenhouse gases by 2030 – heart-breaking news that\nattracted barely any media attention.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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Most media\nand governments are failing in their fundamental duty. We cannot simply stand\naside and wait for them to take the right steps to ensure a safe and livable\nclimate. We need a massive public mobilisation, which will only take place if\nwe can show that we are still in a phase of denying or greenwashing. An\nindependent European Climate Change Council would be our ally in this. But, as\nalways in history, it\u2019s not going to be handed to us without a fight.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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Child holding a balloon during a climate march\/ CC0 Mika Baumeister<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n
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What are the next steps for the ECCC?<\/h3>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n
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The ECCC is a proposal\nby the European Parliament. That means it has great democratic backing, but\nthere is a certain danger behind it. Since the ECCC proposal is not supported directly\nby the European Commission, this makes it easier for the European Council to\nsweep it off the table during the Climate Law negotiations. The conclusion will\nbe a compromise between the Council and the Parliament, so we need to make sure\nthere is enough pressure in individual EU countries to support the ECCC because\neach and every EU Member State has a vote on this amendment.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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In Germany,\nDenmark, Sweden, Finland and Luxembourg, there’s a clear sign of support for\nthe ECCC. Unfortunately, when it comes to some Eastern European countries,\nthere is more of a block. The big question marks will be Italy and Spain, as\nthey should normally be more progressive towards these kinds of regulations. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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In a recent\nreport by the General Secretariat of the Council of Europe<\/a> (CoE),  the position\nof the CoE was that they understand the advantage of an independent council of\nscientists to assist the European Environment\nAgency<\/a> (EEA) in their work on climate\nchange. They also added that every Member State is invited to establish a\nnational ‘climate advisory body’ to help individual countries to accomplish\ntheir own national climate targets.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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The European\nEnvironment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils Network (EEAC\nNetwork) also sent a letter<\/a> to the European\ninstitutions to make clear their support of an European Climate Change Council,\nwhich would “create consistency between policies and long-term goals such\nas reaching climate neutrality”. \n\nThe political pressure for an ECCC is starting\nto mount, and it’s more important than ever that we keep that pressure up.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\t

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