The Paris Agreement Ratification Agreed By Environmental Council

Today’s news that Environment Ministers of all EU member states have agreed to ratify the Paris Agreement has been welcomed by Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe who have called for the EU to demonstrate a commitment to increasing climate action.

“We welcome today’s decision by the Environment Council, which shows that the EU can get its act together when put under international pressure”, Wendel Trio, Director at Climate Action Europe (CAN) Europe said.

The unprecedented move by the international community to ratify the Paris Agreement has taught the EU an important lesson.

 

“The unprecedented move by the international community to ratify the Paris Agreement has taught the EU an important lesson; that it can no longer take for granted to be seen as a leader and that it risks lagging behind if not acting fast and boldly enough.

There are two immediate steps that the EU must now take to prove that being a party to the Agreement when it enters into force is not only a political show-off. First of all, all member states should ratify the Paris Agreement by the end of this year, so that the objectives of the Paris Agreement can be rapidly translated into national action. Secondly, the EU must urgently – and by 2018 the latest – review its inadequate 2030 target, as it is out of sync with the objectives of the Paris Agreement.”