EU to push for 1.5C temperature rise limit at climate conference

European Union environment ministers have agreed to push for the goal to limit global warming to 1.5 degree Celsius at this year’s UN Climate Change Conference in Azerbaijan.

“Limiting warming to 1.5ºC requires collective effort and further action from all countries, especially major economies,’’ the ministers from the 27-member bloc said in a statement after a meeting in Luxembourg.

The plans should include “economy-wide and absolute reduction targets that cover all greenhouse gases,’’ the statement read.

The EU also wants to promote the agreement of a new common target for supporting developing and emerging countries, with more contributors to be included.

This would be based on a country’s economic capabilities and its share of states in global greenhouse gas emissions since the early 1990s.

The existing climate financing target was agreed to by industrialised countries in 2009.

It was established to mobilise annually 100 billion dollars from 2020 onwards for climate protection and adaptation to climate change in developing countries.

The target was confirmed in the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015 and extended until 2025.

In 2022, the goal of 100 billion dollars annually was reached for the first time. However, the question now is how to proceed after 2025.

The UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) is scheduled to open on Nov. 11, in Baku and run until Nov. 22.

Azerbaijan, an oil and gas-rich country on the Caspian Sea, has come under international criticism for human rights violations and the repression of dissent but remains an important energy supplier to the EU.