This initiative comes only a few days after the new EU targets on renewable energy and energy efficiency were settled.

Recognising that ”significant further efforts are required from all the Parties – including the EU – to achieve the temperature goals under the Paris Agreement”, the statement encourages the EU Commission to propose scenarios for how climate issues should be handled between 2030 and 2050, including a 1.5°C scenario and at least one pathway towards net zero greenhouse gas emissions in the EU by 2050.

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The statement was signed by ministers representing Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom (all members of the ”Green Growth Group”) who were in Luxembourg on 25 June for a meeting in the Environment Council. ”The EU must continue to demonstrate climate leadership, to create a positive momentum among all the Parties to the [Paris] Agreement to raise global climate ambition,” the statement said.

Sector-specific action
Moreover, the coalition opts for sector-specific targets:

”European sector-specific policies may enable the EU to achieve higher emissions reductions in 2030 than what could be expected based on the current EU Climate and Energy Framework. Therefore, the signatories ask the European Commission to take stock before COP 24 of the impact of the additional efforts that have been provided, or will be, by these sector-specific policies, on the EU 2030 target and on the total amount of GHG emissions reductions in the EU up to 2030.”

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The statement: "Common statement on the long-term strategy and the climate ambition of the EU"