EU climate divisions give foretaste of fight looming at COP28 - Times of India
[ad_1]
BRUSSELS: A hard-won deal on the European Union 's negotiating stance for this year's UN climate talks has revealed regional rifts that anticipate global tensions at the COP28 summit . Diplomats from the 27 EU countries spent weeks debating their COP28 position before their climate ministers agreed on Monday to push for deals to phase out CO2-emitting fossil fuels, triple production of renewable energy and halt the building of coal power plants. The stance sets the EU up to be among the most ambitious major economies at the COP28 gathering of nearly 200 countries, which begins on November 30. But even EU countries clashed over how ambitious to be - and their ministers were locked in talks into the evening on Monday. The faultlines tended to fall between wealthier EU members seeking rapid climate action, and poorer economies concerned about the cost of quitting fossil fuels. The toughest issue concerns fossil fuels - with the EU only agreeing to support a phas