Across Europe, governments are falling short on climate democracy. CAN Europe and WWF’s latest report, "Struggling for a Voice," reveals widespread failures by countries to engage citizens meaningfully in updating their National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs).
This year, the European Union will add another fundamental brick in its climate architecture: a 2040 climate target. Setting a 2040 target is a legal obligation under the European Climate Law. But it also raises a crucial opportunity for the EU to go beyond its current level of ambition.
This briefing, published by the Together for 1.5 consortium the 5th of December, highlights the wide diversity of local actions on climate and energy that local authorities may develop in their territories, as well as the similarities between sectoral measures put in place in different Member States to curb energy use and GHG emissions, which allows to replicate or adapt best practices in other EU territories, while ensuring the protection of nature and strengthening socio-economic aspects.
The NECP tracker has a double function: on the one hand, it assesses the ambition of the latest available NECPs (i.e. either the draft or final updates) by comparing them with EU 2030 climate targets and energy benchmarks. On the other hand, it monitors whether national governments are implementing their old 2019 NECPs as planned...
Most Member States have now submitted the draft updates of their National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs), and only a few months are left before they are required to submit their final NECP updates (30 June). This update is crucial for Member States to develop national plans that truly accelerate climate action and the energy transition across the EU already in this decade, while protecting people and the environment...
Access to and the quality of energy and climate information across Europe is extremely poor, a new report “Transparency and Access to Data on Climate Action” by a group of climate NGOs, finds. The authors, the Together for 1.5 consortium, present best practices and recommendations for improvement towards Member States and the EU, and call for swift action to allow civil society and other stakeholders to have a say in the decision-making processes, based on accurate, complete and timely data.
The new report “Paris Pact Payoff: Speeding up the green transition for socio-economic co-benefits”, brings convincing arguments that climate action is not just necessary, but economically rational. Protecting people and the planet from the devastating impacts of dangerous climate change is a moral duty, as well as a pragmatic choice.
The submitted draft NECP updates are inadequate not only to align with a 1.5°C compatible trajectory, but also to comply with minimum EU climate and energy requirements for 2030.
The report was done using the method of semi-structured interviews in the following countries: Slovenia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, and Denmark, and the EU level.
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VIDEO: Paris Pact Payoff: socio-economic co-benefits