Environment and Habitat

More than 100 countries have reached an agreement at the United Nations climate conference in Glasgow to stop deforestation and land degradation by 2030. It is the first significant pledge during the UN climate summit that started on Sunday. Forest-rich countries such as Brazil, Russia, Canada and Indonesia also support the plan.

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said in her speech at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow that the European Union will do everything in its power to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent. She therefore stressed that there must be a global price for greenhouse gas emissions. She said there must be a clear price for carbon dioxide emissions, "because nature can no longer pay it".

The United Arab Emirates on Thursday (7 October) at the Dubai Expo 2020 announced its plan to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 with the cost of 600 billion dirhams ($163 billion) which would go to investments in renewable energy.

Leaders of the EU Mediterranean countries met in Athens on Friday to discuss climate change and regional security. The summit of southern EU states was established in 2016 by Cyprus, France, Portugal, Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain. This year, Croatia and Slovenia joined for the first time to discuss issues ranging from the pandemic response to migration and the crisis in Afghanistan.

The European Union and Turkey on Thursday (16 September), held their first high level dialogue on climate change. The delegations were led by the European Commission’s executive vice president for the European Green Deal, Frans Timmermans, and Turkish minister of environment and urbanization,  Murut Kurum. They discussed the necessary steps to fight the devastating effects of climate change and to significantly cut emissions by 2050.