Changes from resolution motion to adopted text

P. whereas the UN General Assembly has recognised the right to access a clean, healthy and sustainable environment as a universal human right and Article 37 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union enshrines the principle that environmental protection must be integrated into the policies of the Union;

Q. whereas air pollution is a major environmental and public health threat and is inextricably linked with the climate crisis, both in terms of shared energy sources such as fossil fuel combustion and the need for integrated policy solutions; whereas short-lived climate pollutants, such as methane and black carbon, are responsible for nearly half of current global warming levels and cause severe health impacts, particularly among vulnerable populations;

R. whereas the United States has decided for the second time to unilaterally withdraw from the Paris Agreement; whereas the US retreat from multilateralism and from providing development assistance, humanitarian aid and international climate finance will leave a significant gap; whereas the EU has a responsibility and strategic interest in helping to fill that gap;

S. whereas making global financial flows consistent with a pathway towards a net zero and climate-resilient economy is an essential goal for the green transition, in accordance with Article 2 of the Paris Agreement;

U. whereas the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative is inspired by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and calls for a binding international treaty to stop fossil fuel expansion, to phase out existing production and to support a just global transition; whereas only 17 countries have so far endorsed the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, and none of these is an EU Member State;

V. whereas the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change recommends the urgent and full phasing out of fossil fuel subsidies in the EU, in line with existing commitments; whereas the 8th EAP requires the establishment of a clear deadline for ending such subsidies, in line with this climate ambition;

W. whereas children are especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, including by way of deadly diseases, pollution, food and water insecurity, and extreme weather events; whereas nearly 1 billion children live in 33 countries classified as ‘extremely high-risk’ due to a combination of exposure to climate and environmental hazards and high levels of vulnerability;

X. whereas ambitious multilateral climate frameworks, and the actions aligned with them, serve the strategic interests of the EU and present opportunities for the EU as a global frontrunner in the green transition;

Global stocktake, NDCs and the COP30 in Belém

International climate finance and sustainable finance

13. Emphasises that the provision of adequate climate finance is crucial for achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement; recalls that many developing countries’ NDCs are conditional on international climate finance; stresses that, according to various UN reports, the global climate finance gap between what is needed and what is currently provided is large and growing, and that this growing gap stems from a number of factors, all of which should be adequately addressed;

14. Stresses that delayed mobilisation of climate finance will lead to increased costs, rising opportunity costs and diminishing climate returns; notes, in this regard, that the IEA estimates that, for every US dollar not invested in clean energy before 2030, four or five dollars may be needed subsequently to compensate;

15. Stresses that adaptation is underfunded, and that the NCQG does not respond sufficiently to adaptation finance needs; highlights the fact that, while all sources of finance – public and private – are needed, international public finance is needed in particular for responding to adaptation needs and addressing loss and damage;

17. Recognises that the EU played a significant role in brokering a deal to achieve agreement on the NCQG; calls on all Parties to contribute their fair share towards meeting the NCQG, which should include subgoals for finance for mitigation and adaptation and for loss and damage; calls for the EU and its Member States to scale up new and additional climate finance, through a dedicated and predictable EU public finance mechanism, to be in line with the agreed NCQG; recalls that, in order to achieve the necessary global climate finance levels, a broader contributor base reflecting Parties’ evolving financial capabilities is needed; expects upper-middle income countries with high emissions to contribute their fair share and increase their contributions more than currently is the case; calls on all parties to identify new and innovative sources of public and private finance; calls for Parties, when financing the NCQG, to prioritise instruments and measures that are grant-based and non-debt inducing in order to ensure that the recipient countries are able to implement necessary mitigation and adaptation measures without increasing their debt burden; expresses its concern about the NCQG being met by re-categorising other funds; points also to concerns about the ambiguity around the kinds of funding that contribute to the NCQG, in particular the issue of double-counting;

18. Calls on all actors to ensure that the Baku-to-Belém roadmap provides a clear and actionable plan for mobilising the relevant resources; urges all Parties to foster strong public-private cooperation and mobilise private investment at scale by strengthening regulatory frameworks for accountable and sustainable investment; notes that private investment will have to cover the largest share of the required investment in the global climate transition; stresses the need for the roadmap to include a robust and independent accountability mechanism to ensure transparency and track progress effectively;

19. Notes that many climate-vulnerable countries, including several least-developed countries, are in debt distress or at significant risk of debt distress and that climate finance should therefore be allocated in way that does not exacerbate their debt burden, giving priority to grant-based finance; calls on the Commission and the Member States to assess their options for contributing to alleviating this debt distress and to take relevant action without delay;

20. Stresses that there is consensus across UN bodies that climate finance cannot be scaled up equitably unless the debt crisis is addressed; highlights the importance, in this context, of debt relief instruments;

21. Calls on the Commission, the Member States and international partners to integrate climate microfinance as a core component of climate adaptation and mitigation strategies, by supporting local microfinance institutions to develop and scale up financial products for vulnerable populations, including microcredit for green technologies, micro-insurance against climate risks, and micro-savings for community resilience, with a particular focus on women, young people and rural communities;

22. Stresses the urgent need to simplify, accelerate and adapt climate finance procedures to the realities of developing countries, notably by establishing single-window access points, harmonising application criteria and providing technical assistance for project preparation, to ensure that climate finance is accessible, rapid and effective for local organisations and communities that are most affected by climate change;

23. Considers it essential to make progress at COP30 on the operationalisation of Article 2.1(c) of the Paris Agreement and to make this a standing point on the COP agendas; calls for the EU to engage in international initiatives such as the Bridgetown Initiative 3.0; calls for swifter reform of the international financial architecture, and calls on all the major international financial institutions and multilateral development banks to assume their role as climate banks and to align their portfolios and lending policies with the Paris Agreement in a way that is financially sustainable in the long term; calls also on domestic and international financial systems to better address the challenges of climate change by removing barriers to accessing climate finance for clean technologies and shifting public and private finance flows away from emission-intensive activities;

24. Considers that the European Investment Bank (EIB) should serve as the Union’s climate bank and takes note therefore of its climate bank roadmap and updated energy lending policy, as well as the additional efforts of the European Investment Fund, as important steps in spearheading climate investment;

Adaptation, loss and damage, and a just transition

25. Underlines the need to step up climate adaptation, resilience and preparedness within the EU and globally to minimise the negative effects of climate change and biodiversity loss and to address this comprehensively at the COPs while emphasising the important role of local and regional authorities in designing and implementing these actions; recognises the importance of global cooperation and the exchange of know-how and of the best available science and of best practices in climate adaptation; stresses that the costs of adaptation will increase with inaction and delayed action, in terms of both mitigation and adaptation;

26. Reiterates its deep concern about the increasing intensity and frequency of extreme weather events in the EU and globally, including wildfires, droughts, heatwaves and floods, and their impact on human health and the increasing loss of lives; notes that sea levels are expected to rise more quickly throughout this century in all the IPCC scenarios, incurring financial costs and causing the loss of coastal areas all around the world;

27. Highlights the need, at COP30, to operationalise the framework for the global goal on adaptation, including through adopting impactful and manageable indicators and robust, comprehensive tracking systems and addressing means of implementation in order to enable effective monitoring of progress towards the adaptation targets set at COP28; points out that, while mitigation finance and implementation have progressed, adaptation efforts continue to lag behind, with a widening gap in both funding and concrete action;

28. Highlights the importance of national adaptation plans and stresses the need to align them with the Baku-to-Belém roadmap; calls on Parties that have not yet done so to put in place their national adaptation plans as soon as possible, and on all Parties to have progressed in implementing them by 2030, and to include a focus on nature-based solutions; calls on all Parties to integrate cross-cutting elements such as gender equality and human rights into their plans;

29. Calls for increased investment in early warning systems and risk management systems in vulnerable regions, highlighting their essential role in protecting lives, safeguarding livelihoods and strengthening resilience to climate risks;

30. Encourages greater support for the collection, sharing and analysis of climate and disaster risk data, as well as the deployment of appropriate technologies for these activities, in order to enhance the availability and quality of information for at-risk populations; recommends that all EU-supported early warning initiatives allocate dedicated resources to ongoing system maintenance and updates, especially in the light of global challenges to science-based observation and procedures;

31. Welcomes the decision at COP28 to establish the loss and damage fund and expects further progress on its implementation and financing; calls on all Parties to ensure transparent rules in this regard; stresses the importance of acknowledging the distinct character of loss and damage by treating it separately from adaptation, including in the GST framework;

32. Calls on all Parties to secure transparent pledges and predictable delivery mechanisms for loss and damage finance, including early disbursements from the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage; calls on all Parties to ensure that resources directed to the fund are in addition to existing contributions to climate finance; strongly believes that loss and damage funding should prioritise grants and be supplementary to, and distinct from, official development assistance;

33. Reiterates its call for loss and damage to be a standing agenda item at COP meetings;

34. Calls on all Parties to advance the Just Transition Work Programme by promoting concrete actions that address inequalities exacerbated by climate change; considers that the work programme should encompass the objectives of decent work creation and a just transition for all, and calls on all Parties to promote social dialogue with employers’ and workers’ organisations and stakeholder engagement as a basis for forging strong social consensus; calls on all Parties to work constructively to reach agreement on further implementation of the work programme, recognising that the means of implementation must be delivered urgently;

35. Stresses that climate change is threatening the fundamental rights and well-being of children and young people; highlights the need to integrate child rights and intergenerational equity into all aspects of climate policy, including adaptation, mitigation, loss and damage, and climate finance;

EU climate policy aligned with the Paris Agreement

36. Highlights the fact that the EU’s current climate legislation, if fully implemented, will reduce the EU’s net GHG emissions by around 57 % by 2030 compared to 1990 levels; notes that the EU is currently on course to reduce net GHG emissions by only around 54 % by 2030, compared to 1990 levels, if the Member States fully implement existing and planned national measures and EU policies; calls on the Member States to take the necessary measures to address this gap, and on the Commission to take additional measures to support Member States in that effort; stresses the need for EU climate policy to continue to set ambitious goals, in line with the agreed targets, and to prioritise in its actions cost-effectiveness, the competitiveness of the European economy, social inclusion and a high level of environmental protection;

37. Stresses the importance of respecting the submission deadlines for updates to National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) to allow the Commission to conduct a proper review process; welcomes the Commission’s assessment of the final 2030 NECPs of the Member States that have submitted them; urges the Commission and the Member States to act decisively to close the gap between the NECPs and the EU’s binding targets, including through implementation plans;

38. Underlines the need to adopt a science-based EU climate target for 2040 in accordance with the European Climate Law, considering all the criteria of Article 4(5) thereof, and in keeping with the conclusions of the first GST; recalls the recommendations of the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change and notes the Commission’s proposal of a 2040 climate target accompanied by enabling policies; regrets, furthermore, that the Council was not able to agree on an NDC for 2035 before the deadline of 23 September 2025; urges the Council to agree on an NDC that is at the upper end of the indicated range as soon as possible;

39. Recalls the need for the EU to remain a leader in international climate negotiations and climate action to contribute to a global level playing field and avoid the risk of carbon leakage for European companies, as well as to maintain public support for climate action and avoid carbon leakage;

40. Underlines the role of the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change (ESABCC), as established by the European Climate Law; calls on the Commission to provide justification, in impact assessment reports or other publicly accessible documents, of deviations from the ESABCC’s advice and to address the policy trade-offs; calls on the Commission, moreover, to safeguard sufficient funding for the ESABCC in upcoming budgetary proposals to enable it to fulfil its legal mandate;

41. Reiterates the need to integrate climate ambition into all EU policies and the measures transposing them and underlines that Article 6(2) and 6(4) of the European Climate Law obliges the Commission to assess whether all current measures, draft measures and legislative proposals, including budgetary proposals, are consistent with the EU’s climate targets; recalls that, according to the European Climate Law, the EU’s and the Member States’ actions should be guided by the precautionary and the ‘polluter pays’ principles established in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and should also take into account the ‘energy efficiency first’ principle of the Energy union and the ‘do no harm’ principle;

42. Underlines that effective access to justice in environmental matters, in line with the Aarhus Convention, is critical to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement; believes that the EU and the Member States should lead by example and apply the findings and recommendations of the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee, while respecting their own international commitments under the Aarhus Convention and the rule of law;

43. Calls on the Member States and the Commission to ensure that the national energy and climate plans and long-term strategies of the Member States include sufficient action and financial means to achieve EU targets for 2030 and beyond; calls on the Member States to increase their efforts to ensure that the EU meets its 2030 targets;

44. Points out that, at a time of rising geopolitical instability and volatile energy markets, decarbonisation is a powerful driver of strategic autonomy and economic competitiveness for the EU; recalls that this is acknowledged in the Clean Industrial Deal and its objective to bring climate action and competitiveness together in one overarching strategy;