LUXEMBOURG – The Greek government is refusing to sign off on the EU’s formal position paper for the annual climate conference COP30 in Brazil this year over EU efforts to make the shipping industry cleaner.
Each year, the EU’s 27 countries unanimously agree a position for the annual climate conference, and an easy adoption of this year’s document was expected after Spanish and German concerns were addressed in the run-up to Tuesday’s ministerial in Luxembourg.
But Greece has suddenly threatened to block approval because the text, obtained earlier by Euractiv, “welcomes” the international shipping net-zero framework deal struck in April and which Athens refused to sign.
Three diplomats confirmed the blockage to Euractiv, with one diplomat saying that Athens is holding the deal “hostage”.
In Greece, where the shipping industry is a major influence, fighting against the deal has become important at the highest level and is in the hands of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
The Net Zero framework deal was approved last April but not adopted by members of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) following a US intervention.
The line referring to the deal in the EU’s COP30 position paper was “irrelevant,” a source in Athens told Euractiv. The Net Zero Framework deal was frozen last week, and the text should therefore be “re-visited”.
A compromise on the text had yet to be found – any proposal to alter it would need to be signed off by Athens, one senior EU diplomat said.
Following pressure from the Americans, members of the IMO had failed to approve a deal pushing for an ambitious framework favouring green hydrogen-derived fuels (such as green ammonia and methanol) over LNG.
The EU had voted against the postponement of the deal, pitting Brussels against Washington. Greece and Cyprus, however, abstained during the vote.
(jp)