The future targets for sustainable development, climate finance and the status of international climate negotiations up to Paris were on top of the agenda of the informal meeting of the EU Environment Council in Luxemburg. The two-day meeting also served as preparation of a special Environment Council on climate in Brussels on 18 September. State Secretary Jochen Flasbarth participated in the consultations on behalf of the Federal Environment Ministry.
The UN summit in New York in September is to adopt the global goals for sustainable development (SDGs) for the time after 2015 (post-2015 agenda). For this purpose a catalogue of 17 SDGs was drawn up encompassing social, ecological and economic aspects. The specific goals extend from poverty reduction and transformation of economies to greater sustainability.
In Luxemburg, State Secretary Flasbarth advocated an ambitious implementation of the goals. He explained: "The SDGs offer the unique opportunity to link environment and development even more closely. Europe has great experience in this area and should implement them actively and dynamically and promote their implementation worldwide."
On the topic of climate finance the ministers discussed a wide range of public and private funding instruments. On this occasion, Mr Flasbarth also presented the results on climate finance from the G7 summit in Elmau, where the commitment of 2009 was confirmed, i.e. to make 100 billlion US dollars available to the Green Climate Fund by 2020. Other decisions included initiatives on climate insurance and expanding the use of renewable energies in Africa. State Secretary Flasbarth commented: "Climate finance plays a key role in achieving results in Paris. Public funding forms an important basis and more donor countries have to commit to making funds available in time before Paris. We also need to promote private investments in climate-friendly structures through innovative mechanisms. Adoption of a new climate agreement is planned for the UN summit in Paris in late 2015.
Mr Flasbarth underlined that the G7 countries established the decarbonisation of the global economy by the end of this century as a long-term goal at their meeting in Elmau. "We want to build on this during climate negotiations. The target is a climate neutral global economy", explained Jochen Flasbarth, advocating that the EU adopt this position.