Von der
Leyen’s Cop29 absence sends ‘fatal signal’, say watchers
MEPs express
concern for EU climate leadership as commission head confirms she will miss
Baku summit
Jennifer
Rankin in Brussels
Wed 6 Nov
2024 17.47 GMT
Ursula von
der Leyen’s decision to miss the Cop29 climate summit is “a fatal signal” and
raises questions about Europe’s commitment to the climate crisis, observers
have said.
The European
Commission confirmed on Tuesday that its president would not attend the UN
climate talks in Baku, which start on Monday. “The commission is in a
transition phase and the president will therefore focus on her institutional
duties,” a spokesperson said.
Also
skipping the “world leaders’ climate action summit” on Tuesday and Wednesday
are France’s Emmanuel Macron and the outgoing US president, Joe Biden. The
Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, cancelled his participation due
to a head injury, Reuters reported. The leaders of China, South Africa, Japan
and Australia are expected to miss the talks as well.
Mohammed
Chahim, a Dutch socialist and the vice-chair of the European parliament’s
delegation to the Baku talks, described von der Leyen’s absence as
“regrettable”, but said it did not imply a lack of EU commitment.
He said:
“The climate crisis does not wait for ideal conditions to act, and neither can
we. After the re-election of [Donald] Trump, the EU must now take a stronger
leadership role, both to sustain momentum and to counterbalance the US stance.”
Michael
Bloss, a German Green MEP, also in the delegation, said it was “a fatal signal”
that Europe’s most powerful woman, along with other leaders, had chosen not to
attend.
Referring to
Azerbaijan’s strongman president, Ilham Aliyev, Bloss said: “By leaving the
stage to autocrats like Aliyev, we risk turning the conference more and more
into a greenwashing spectacle for self-promotion rather than genuine climate
action.”
Von der
Leyen is preparing for her second term in office, expected to begin on 1
December after European parliament hearings with her top team conclude.
The
commission will be represented at Cop29 by its climate commissioner, Wopke
Hoekstra, and the energy commissioner, Kadri Simson, and a team of negotiators.
WWF said von
der Leyen’s non-attendance was disappointing. Shirley Matheson, a climate
specialist at the charity, said her absence, along with other world leaders,
raised “serious questions” about European and international commitment to
fighting the climate crisis. “We cannot afford for climate action to move down
on Europe’s agenda,” she added.
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Von der
Leyen has attended every high-level Cop meeting since she became commission
president in 2019. In her successful pitch for re-election by MEPs, she
highlighted the importance of Europe’s role in international climate talks: “I
want Europe to remain a leader in international climate negotiations.”
The head of
the UN environment programme said last month that “huge cuts” in carbon
emissions were needed to steer the world off a path of catastrophic temperature
rise, in a report urging countries to act at the climate summit in Baku.
Sven
Harmeling, head of climate at the Climate Action Network Europe, said he did
not see von der Leyen’s non-attendance as “not showing interest”, but added it
was important she ensured the EU “is able to speak up and convey its ambition
for climate leadership”.
“Stronger EU
participation is always important to signal leadership, but for me it really
comes down to how they use diplomatic channels,” he said, highlighting the
bloc’s role at the G20 summit in Brazil on 18-19 November, where leaders of the
world’s largest economies will discuss financing the climate transition.
On
Wednesday, the commission said: “Our leadership is demonstrated by our
consistent actions domestically and internationally. We are always a leading
voice for ambition at Cops and that will not change this year.”
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