By Kate Abnett and Robin Emmott
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The leaders of the European Union and the United States are set to pledge deeper cooperation on tackling climate change, according to a draft statement prepared for a summit in Brussels next week.
In the draft, which will be discussed by EU member states’ ambassadors on Wednesday, Washington and Brussels pledge to engage international partners ahead of global climate negotiations in November, where they hope to convince other countries to be more ambitious in cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
U.S. President Joe Biden will meet the chief of the European Union’s executive, Ursula von der Leyen, and European Council President Charles Michel on June 15 for a summit tackling issues ranging from trade to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The draft communique, seen by Reuters, also singled out key areas where the two sides would promote transatlantic collaboration on limiting climate change.
“We intend to closely coordinate to promote robust climate measures, address the risk of carbon leakage and cooperate on sustainable finance, including by providing the private sector with usable tools and metrics,” it said.
The EU has said it plans to address the risk of “carbon leakage” – where companies relocate to regions with weaker climate policies – by imposing carbon emissions costs on imports of certain goods.
A draft of the EU’s border levy proposal said it would apply to some U.S. goods sold into the EU, including steel, aluminium and fertilisers. Brussels has said countries with sufficiently ambitious climate policies may be able to seek exemptions from the fee.
Biden has reignited the United States’ role in leading global efforts to fight climate change, and in April committed to at least halve U.S. emissions by 2030, from 2005 levels.
The EU will next month unveil a huge climate policy package to deliver its own goal of cutting net emissions at least 55% by 2030, from 1990 levels.
The draft statement said the two sides will scale up efforts to get rich countries to meet a goal of transferring at least $100 billion to poorer nations to help them cut emissions and adapt to the effects of climate change.
(Reporting by Kate Abnett and Robin Emmott; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
