We, the undersigned 20 organisations from Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries and others supporting the cause welcome the entry into force of the Paris Agreement and call on Europe’s leadership to help put this historic climate deal into practice.

Implementing the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5°C should be a key priority for Europe in the coming months, to ensure that the global commitments are turned into effective domestic action.

CEE countries are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and face challenges to benefit fully from the transition to a low-carbon economy. EU’s climate policies, if designed correctly, provide important tools to help secure the climate friendly transformation of our societies and maximise its benefits such as cleaner air, protected and restored forests, reduced energy poverty, more liveable cities and creation of jobs. The ongoing reforms of EU climate policy provide a unique opportunity to support the achievement of these outcomes.

The EU’s main climate tools – the EU’s Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), the Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR) and the land use and forestry regulation (LULUCF) – need to be aligned with the objectives agreed in Paris as well as provide CEE countries with the necessary tools and resources to embark on this low-carbon transition. Most importantly, the EU’s 2030 domestic reduction target has to be raised to at least 55% as part of the post-Paris review cycle.

More specifically, we call for an:

EU ETS that:

• Delivers a meaningful carbon price that incentivises the rapid and complete phase-out of fossil fuels across Europe.
• Provides support for our countries’ transition from a fossil fuel based economy to one powered by renewable energy and energy efficiency.
• Prohibits investments that benefit new and existing fossil and nuclear energy generation or increase import dependency, in line with the EU’s commitment to phase out fossil fuel and other environmentally harmful subsidies by 2020, for example by setting stringent investment criteria for the Modernisation Fund and Article 10c.

ESR that:

• Incentivises a rapid low-carbon transition in all the sectors it covers, not only up to, but also beyond 2030 in line with the long-term objective of at least 95% emission cuts by 2050.
• Sets the starting point in 2021 based on actual emissions, e.g. based on the actual progress made in the transport, centralised heat supply, building, agriculture and waste sectors by 2020.
• Closes loopholes that stall climate efforts in the non-ETS sectors while strengthening intra-EU flexibilities to provide lower income states with resources for climate friendly investments.
• Reinforces the synergies between European climate, energy and sectoral legislation, such as the circular economy package, the decarbonisation of transport and energy efficiency measures

LULUCF that:

• Provides ambition to increase the EU’s carbon sink to put the EU on a pathway for 1.5 degrees.
• Fosters sustainable land and forestry practices to halt further biodiversity loss.
• Ensures that action to enhance the EU’s sink happens in addition to action to reduce emissions in other sectors.

List of organisations:

Networks:

CEE Bankwatch, representing 16 groups in 14 countries

Green Polish Network, representing 10 Polish organizations

Transport and Environment, representing 50 organisations accross Europe

Zero Waste Europe, representing more than 20 organisations across Europe

Polish Climate Coalition, group of 22 NGOs working on climate protection in Poland

Organisations:

2 Celsius, Romania

Ecological-Cultural Association “Common Earth”, Poland

Carbon Market Watch, Belgium

ClientEarth Poland, Poland

Ecoclub NGO, Ukraine

FERN, Belgium

Focus Association for Sustainable Development, Slovenia

Green Liberty, Latvia

Green Line, Albania

Green Movement NGO, Estonia

Health Alliance, Poland

INSPRO, Poland

Let’s do it – Association for clean environment, Macedonia

National Ecological Centre, Ukraine

Polski Klub Ekologiczny, Poland