EU fails to set tougher climate targets before December U.N. conference

from Reuters

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union government leaders declined on Friday to set tougher targets for fighting climate change, dashing hopes they would inject momentum into a United Nations climate conference in Chile in December.

At a two-day EU summit in Brussels, which was largely dominated by Brexit, discussion on climate was relegated to the last agenda item and took less than 15 minutes.

“The existential threat posed by climate change requires enhanced ambition and increased climate action by the EU and at global level,” read the final statement by the leaders.

The bloc aimed to “finalize its guidance on the EU’s long-term strategy on climate change at its December meeting.”

That means the EU will not bring more ambitious climate change-fighting objectives to the U.N. gathering in Santiago on Dec. 2-13, part of a process to check signatories’ progress toward implementing the 2015 Paris accords.

Beyond the cautious wording of Friday’s EU communique lurks deep divisions over climate strategy within the 28-nation bloc, whose standing goal is to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.

Full article here.

HT/Willie Soon

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Justin Burch
October 20, 2019 6:13 am

Is that horse finally dead?

Garland Lowe
Reply to  Justin Burch
October 20, 2019 6:32 am

No, it’s a cat and has more than 9 lives.

On the outer Barcoo
Reply to  Justin Burch
October 20, 2019 8:18 am

That won’t stop them flogging it …

Henning Nielsen
Reply to  Justin Burch
October 20, 2019 10:13 am

It’s dead, but it won’t lie down.

mr bliss
Reply to  Justin Burch
October 20, 2019 1:05 pm

It’s not dead – It’s resting

Crispin in Waterloo but really in Beijing
Reply to  mr bliss
October 21, 2019 6:48 am

It’s an ex-agenda. Gone to meet its maker.

Nope. It’s a zombie. It’s slow, characterised by jerks left and lefter, and leaves its victims brainless.

Mark Pawelek
October 20, 2019 6:18 am

“The existential threat posed by climate change requires enhanced ambition and increased climate action by the EU and at global level,”

— Accidental surreal irony. If they really believe climate change poses an existential threat to them [AKA threat against their existence], they would actually have done something.

Newminster
Reply to  Mark Pawelek
October 20, 2019 7:50 am

‘Existential’ is a “humptyword”. Look up Humpty Dumpty in Alicecin Wonderland for full context!

commieBob
Reply to  Newminster
October 20, 2019 8:27 am

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.” link

When you argue with a SJW and point out the inconsistency of their position, they will counter that you can’t use the dictionary definition of words.

When you point out that a white male can be the victim of racism (in Japan for instance), they will deny that that is possible. Mere logic will not move a SJW.

Reply to  Mark Pawelek
October 20, 2019 8:17 am

But there is an existential threat which is the proposed ‘mitigations’ for the twisted obsession about fake climate change caused by CO2 emissions. To avoid this threat, the best way forward is to do nothing, which is what they’re doing.

At least in this case, bureaucratic incompetence is a good thing …

Sunny
October 20, 2019 6:35 am

So the co2 seeing devil wants XR to break more laws as pre her twitter post, XR’s leader wants to over throw governments and has stated that XR has nothing to do with climate change, sorry I meant the weather, and now the EU doesn’t really care about the u.n. Scam. Maybe its because they know co2 is good for the planet, or that the billions wasted on wind and solar has given no gains only economic losses?

Philo
Reply to  Sunny
October 21, 2019 8:56 am

Most likely the pooh bas of the EU have finally figured out that they cannot make millions of Euros for themselves with the climate. There is no money to be had in wind or solar power, at least not on the scale that would interest several thousand people that are already wealthy. If the climate is changing there is no money to be had in trying to change it back. Since we don’t yet know what causes changes in the climate it’s doubly hard to make money by trying to change it.

And finally, the poor people who do need help also know(through cultural knowledge) that the climate where they live has a long, long history with no changes.

It is also possible that they may finally realizing that the way to make more money is to find ways for the remaining poor people to earn a lot more and pay taxes.

October 20, 2019 6:37 am

Greta won’t be pleased with this news. Prepare to incur her wrath.

MarkW
Reply to  Kamikazedave
October 20, 2019 6:54 am

Perhaps she’ll swim back to Europe in order to give them a piece of her mind.

LdB
Reply to  Kamikazedave
October 20, 2019 7:16 am

How dare they 🙂

Reply to  LdB
October 20, 2019 12:19 pm

Ineffective.

Sunny
Reply to  Kamikazedave
October 20, 2019 7:19 am

Kamilkazedave

HOOOOOOW DAAAARRRRREEEEE YOOOOUUU 😂😂

Reply to  Sunny
October 20, 2019 12:22 pm

Better.
However, you need to use that font with the acid, bile, and blood dripping from the letters to truly capture the sentiment.

Andy Espersen
Reply to  Kamikazedave
October 20, 2019 7:24 am

Yes – and the extinction rebellion crowd will fume and feel justified initiating further sabotage and mayhem. I note Greta is encouraging them to break the law. They most likely will now – which will finally make it possible to snuff out their “rebellion”. About time.

LarryD
Reply to  Andy Espersen
October 20, 2019 8:07 am

Actually, creating a Public Nuisance is a criminal act, so they already are.

Scissor
Reply to  Andy Espersen
October 20, 2019 8:46 am

Why don’t they get a tank filled with fake blood and a fire hose and get a couple of guys to carry it atop a train on the Jubilee line to spray commuters? What could go wrong?

Jeremiah Puckett
Reply to  Kamikazedave
October 20, 2019 11:09 am

Greta’s an idiot. She sailed to NYC in a boat made of oil byproducts. She likely ate food that was grown, harvested, canned and prepared using oil and coal for energy. She wore clothes that are an oil byproduct.

Churning
Reply to  Jeremiah Puckett
October 20, 2019 1:07 pm

I also understand that two crew members had to fly to New York in order to have a full crew to sail the boat back across the Atlantic.

Patrick MJD
Reply to  Churning
October 21, 2019 5:39 am

I am sure they offset their emissions by having bananas transported to Alberta, Canada, in their borrowed Tesla (That don’t work too well in real cold).

MarkW
October 20, 2019 6:53 am

They aren’t meeting their current goals. Why would they make tougher ones?

LdB
Reply to  MarkW
October 20, 2019 4:32 pm

They have still got one foot without a bullet hole, you really have to balance things up.

October 20, 2019 7:22 am

There are many problems in the EU but none of them is even remotely linked to CO2.

kwinterkorn
Reply to  Petit_Barde
October 20, 2019 10:31 am

Agreed. Brexit, with possibilities of other countries to follow in near future, is an “existential” threat to the EU as currently configured and governed. That is a good thing.

The EU needs anti-bureaucratic reform. Brexit will, if it ever happens, get them into a serious frame of mind. Climate Change will look like an irrelevant policy concern to them then—-especially given the CO2 belching out of China, India, etc, making any moves by Europe useless.

Tom Abbott
October 20, 2019 7:24 am

From the article: “That means the EU will not bring more ambitious climate change-fighting objectives to the U.N. gathering in Santiago on Dec. 2-13, part of a process to check signatories’ progress toward implementing the 2015 Paris accords.”

I’m real curious about China and India’s contributions to fighting human-caused climate change. They don’t have any CO2 requirements to meet before the year 2030. Until then China and India can pretty much do whatever they want as far as generating CO2 is concerned. There are no restrictions.

So the Alarmists are not serious about CO2 killing off humanity, otherwise they would be acting completely differently than they are. They would focus on the really big producers of CO2 and they would focus on nuclear power generation. Instead, the Alarmists’ focus is on controlling the Western democracies’ policies and has created an artificial crisis blamed on CO2 as the method of control of the economy and the population.

If China and India are not the number one priority on the alarmist’s list, then that tells us that increasing CO2 production is not their primary interest.

F.LEGHORN
Reply to  Tom Abbott
October 20, 2019 2:42 pm

China and India promised that in 2030 they would “assess the situation”. That is all. And if their “assessment” is that they need to keep doing what they’ve been doing, they will.

Derg
October 20, 2019 7:25 am

Germany will not let Brexit happen. They have worked too hard to rule over the British. Global warming…I mean climate change…I mean Climate Extinction will have to wait.

Reply to  Derg
October 20, 2019 12:26 pm

Winning wars is useless if you then lose the peace.

Adam
October 20, 2019 7:36 am

The climate shenanigans are pretty much over. The XR’s and the Greta’s have lost.

It’s time to deal with real problems, especially the rise of China (which just signed a deal for Iraqi oil in exchange for massive construction projects).

China aims to surpass the US as the dominant global power, and has had tremendous success thus far through it’s “Belt and Road” initiative, through the adoption of Hwawei 5g around the world, and via the build out of Chinese naval and missile forces.

The climate and related culture wars amount to an elaborate exercise in naval-gazing. We must stop this and focus and the actual threat at hand.

Sunny
Reply to  Adam
October 20, 2019 8:00 am

Adam

Nice to know Iraq is getting back to business, after the usa and europe nearly destroyed its economy.

Adam
Reply to  Sunny
October 20, 2019 9:56 am

Iraq is an Iranian vassal state. Iran is a Russian vassal state. Russia is a Chinese vassal state.

Syria and Lebanon are Iranian vassal states. Since Iran is a Russian vassal state, and Russia is a Chinese vassal state, China has gained back door control of large chunks of the ME. Also, Turkey is quickly becoming a Chinese vassal state, thanks to infusions of Chinese cash.

Europe is about to become dependent on Hwawei 5G and Russian natural gas. Europe will sing from the Chinese hymn book.

While we’re arguing about “climate change” and transgender rights, China is quietly spreading its tentacles far and wide.

Patrick MJD
Reply to  Adam
October 21, 2019 5:37 am

“Adam October 20, 2019 at 9:56 am

China has gained back door control of large chunks of the ME. Also, Turkey is quickly becoming a Chinese vassal state, thanks to infusions of Chinese cash.”

Large chunks of the Pacific, Australia and Africa.

Reply to  Patrick MJD
October 21, 2019 12:21 pm

Also large chunks of the NBA.

Reply to  Adam
October 20, 2019 12:41 pm

Hmmm…even if the shenanigans are over, there is still the balance of the malarkey, hogwash, bafflegab, inanity, codswallop, blather, hooey, tommyrot, twaddle and plain old jackassery to wade through, just yet.
And there may even still be an odd unspent shenanigan here and there.
With any luck at all, the worst of the piffle, tosh, guff and claptrap are in the rearview though.

Alasdair Fairbairn
Reply to  Adam
October 21, 2019 3:23 am

In days of yore we called it “The yellow peril”

October 20, 2019 8:11 am

Just this week Russia called off any carbon action, and only an audit will pass. What insubordination!

So it is obvious – Russian interference in the EU !

So when a German AfD politician accuses Putin of funding Greta, and Hilary accuses Tulsi Gabbard of being Putin’s puppet, and Pelosi accuses Trump in the Oval Office of worse, it is time to get Ursula’s European Defense Union tanks rolling.

Brexit has no effect on the European Defense Union, which includes an Africa Corps.

Deja vu?

stan
October 20, 2019 8:30 am

Ummm, note that the UK hopes to leave the EU and we are the prats who are signed up to do more harm to ourselves than the rest. You couldnt make it up

Dennis G Sandberg
October 20, 2019 8:32 am

Germany has essentially ended all onshore wind generation with “market-based auctions” (see Oct. 1 auction results) and will soon tire of building more solar than they can use or dump on their neighbors. Japan will be ending it’s FIT program for renewables in 2020. China talks renewables and builds coal. Brexit will end UK folly. Recent natural gas reserve additions is the US make expensive renewables “less competitive”. Yes, the horse is dead….but the Green’s will continue to beat it for a couple more years.

griff
Reply to  Dennis G Sandberg
October 20, 2019 8:47 am

Germany is still building offshore wind and if you look at its electricity export figures, its neighbours are taking all they can get

Patrick MJD
Reply to  griff
October 21, 2019 12:47 am
Sunny
Reply to  Dennis G Sandberg
October 20, 2019 9:35 am

Dennis G Sandberg

What a depressing few years that will be… I can’t take any more talk of the CO2 seeing devil child.

October 20, 2019 8:33 am

From the article: “At a two-day EU summit in Brussels . . . discussion on climate was relegated to the last agenda item and took less than 15 minutes.”

It is nice to see CAGW finally getting the respect that it deserves. Hopefully, much less to come.

Coeur de Lion
October 20, 2019 8:58 am

The EU has enough problems to worry about without taking actions to cripple members’ economies. Italian banks, Spanish unemployment, German GDP, brexit, general low level public dissatisfaction, gas, Greek debt, Polish shan’t, why is it still functioning?

richard
October 20, 2019 9:06 am

even the German politicians are getting windy at this madness as it harms industry.

Reply to  richard
October 20, 2019 9:57 am

If they get windy enough, Richard, perhaps they can be tethered to a turbine and produce something useful for a change.

H.R.
October 20, 2019 9:18 am

From the article, with minor typo corrected:

European Union government leaders declined on Friday to set tougher targets for fighting climate change, dashing hopes of Marxists, Globalists, and rent-seeking billionaires thatthey would inject momentum into a United Nations climate conference in Chile in December.

Missed a couple of keystrokes. Happens to all of us now and then.

Wiliam Haas
October 20, 2019 9:39 am

The reality is that the climate change we are experiencing today is caused by the sun and the oceans over which mankind has no control. Despite the hype, there is no real evidence that CO2 has any effect on climate and there is plenty of scientific rationale to support the idea that the climate sensitivity of CO2 is zero. But even if we could somehow stop the Earth’s climate from changing, extreme weather events and sea level would continue because they are part of the current climate. We do not even know what the ideal global climate is let alone how to achieve it. It is all a matter of science and reality.

October 20, 2019 9:47 am

“existential threat”

Where?

Reply to  Hans Erren
October 20, 2019 12:41 pm

Winter is coming to the Northeast. My father is packing to become a climate refugee. He can feel it in his bones, that existential threat of climate change. His condo in Fort Myers awaits…

He estimates this “climate anomaly” will last about six months and plans to be back in May.

Windsong
October 20, 2019 10:20 am

The upcoming climate conferences in Santiago 2 – 13 December could be entertaining. Now that rioters have destroyed several subway stations, supposedly over a 3.5% increase in the fare, some conference participants may need to do a lot of extra walking.
https://unfccc.int/Santiago

Jeremiah Puckett
October 20, 2019 11:12 am

The EU countries haven’t voluntarily met the set of standards and goals they proposed in 2015. What meaning would new, stricter goals have? Complete garbage.

Furthermore, I found it funny protesters were impeding a mass transit train in Britain recently. They now have a problem with mass transit? I thought that was the green method of commuting.

J Mac
October 20, 2019 12:17 pm

Yet another indication of the Climate Change fraud losing support and momentum. CO2, the essential plant food, is not an ‘existential threat’! MCO2GA!

F.LEGHORN
October 20, 2019 2:52 pm

If they aren’t going to make new rules or changes, then what is the point of the “conference”? I am pretty sure that prostitution is illegal in Chile.

But I guess the booze and coca will help calm their fears. Of global weirding or something.

Herbert
October 20, 2019 4:22 pm

Speaking as the citizen of a “not so poor” Southern Hemisphere country, I am entirely in sympathy with the poor Eastern European countries whose economies rely on coal.
As our “target” under Paris is an emission reduction of 26-28% from 2005 levels by 2030, Australia is reliant on coal and resources revenue for some A$ 68 billion annually.
As the activists are pushing for a target of net zero emissions by 2050, there is shall we say a considerable scepticism that green jobs will miraculously appear to keep the country solvent.

William Haas
October 20, 2019 8:04 pm

The reality is that the climate change we are experiencing is caused by the sun and the oceans over which mankind has no control. Despite the hype, there is no real evidence that CO2 has any effect on climate and there is plenty of scientific rationale to support the idea that the climate sensitivity of CO2 is zero. So all effort expended to stop the Earth’s climate from changing is wasted effort. But even if we could somehow stop the Earth’s climate from changing, extreme weather events and sea level would continue so there is nothing to be gained. We do not know how to stop extreme weather events from happening.

Gerry, England
October 21, 2019 6:05 am

There was NO EU SUMMIT last week. It was a meeting of the EUROPEAN COUNCIL which is part of the governance on the European Union. Along with the European Commission and to a lesser extent the European Parliament, the European Council runs the EU. The programme for the Council meeting is set by the General Affairs Council 2 days earlier. The next Council meeting is in December along it is likely a special Council will be convened this month for Brexit – hopefully to reject the request for yet another extension delay.