During an informal Council of Environment Ministers, European Ministers agreed that the proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be adopted at the UN summit for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda are a challenge and an opportunity leading towards a more sustainable, equitable and coherent policy making at the international and European level.
The UN summit is to take place in September 2015, in New York, US.
23 July 2015: During an informal Council of Environment Ministers, European Ministers agreed that the proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be adopted at the UN summit for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda are a challenge and an opportunity leading towards more sustainable, equitable and coherent policy making at the international and European level. The UN summit is to take place in September 2015, in New York, US.
Describing the SDGs as a “tool to strengthen European environmental policies,” Carole Dieschbourg, Luxembourg’s Minister for the Environment and President of the Council, said that “implementing the SDGs in the EU means that the environment needs to stay high on the agenda and has to be mainstreamed into other policies.”
Ministers also addressed the state of play of the climate negotiations after the June 2015 round of UN Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations, the July 2015 meeting of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate Change (MEF), and the July 2015 meeting of the Paris informal ministerial consultations. They assessed progress towards an ambitious Paris agreement and discussed next steps to accelerate negotiations, including on adaptation.
Further, Ministers considered climate finance, in particular how to finance the transition to low-emission and climate-resilient economies. Highlighting the need for political signals to mobilize climate finance, they discussed: the proposal by the Luxembourg Presidency to create a climate finance toolbox that could map, structure and select the instruments needed to mobilize climate finance, and the need for robust and credible methodologies to demonstrate that climate finance is flowing.
In his keynote address to the informal Council, Achim Steiner, UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director, called on Ministers to “recognize that US$100 billion in climate finance is a commitment to a broader transformation.” “Ultimately,” he added, “it is the global US$300 trillion financial economy of today that must shift towards a low-carbon future.”
The informal Council took place in Luxembourg from 22-23 July 2015. [Informal Meeting of Ministers for the Environment Webpage] [European Council Webpage on Informal Meeting of Ministers for the Environment] [Luxembourg Presidency’s Announcement] [Luxembourg Presidency’s Final Press Release] [UNEP Press Release] [IISD RS Story on the First Informal Ministerial Consultations] [IISD RS Coverage of the June Climate Change Conference]