Climate envoy Jaime de Bourbon de Parme said that “science has won” at the climate summit in Glasgow. “No one is questioning climate science anymore,” he said at a meeting on support for greening exports. He pointed out, for example, that all countries have now recognized the importance of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees and not allowing it to rise to 2 degrees. According to the diplomat, there is a “sense of urgency” at COP26, although the level of ambition has not been high enough as far as he is concerned.

The Dutch government’s climate envoy hopes that countries will sharpen their ambitions ahead of the next climate summit, next year in Egypt. In Glasgow, 197 nations agreed that ambitions before the end of 2022 must be tightened so that a maximum warming of 1.5 degrees remains in sight. Also, in Sharm-el-Sheik there will be a lot of talk about adaptation, adaptation to a warmer climate, De Bourbon de Parme hopes. He believes that the Netherlands “has a lot to offer in this regard”.

The climate envoy was one of the speakers Wednesday at an online summit of countries intending to immediately green their export support. There is much to be done about this during the Glasgow Summit. The Netherlands was initially missing from the list of countries that agreed to stop providing export support for fossil fuel projects in other countries by the end of next year, but signed on under immense pressure. 39 countries have now joined, including Belgium, Germany, France, the UK and the US.

The fact that Germany later joined was mainly due to “internal dynamics” in the country, according to the climate envoy. After the Dutch signed, he sent a request to Germany to participate as well.

The coalition called E3F will meet at an online meeting Wednesday. Abbreviation for Export Finance for Future. In addition to the host country, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Spain, France, England and Sweden took part. One of the topics discussed was the extent to which exceptions should remain possible in the years to come. The statement signed in Glasgow leaves room for that. For example, a project where CO2 is captured and stored, so that greenhouse gases are not released into the air, is out of the way.

In recent years, the Netherlands has provided large-scale support for fossil fuel projects, such as oil and gas extraction, with so-called export credit insurance. It added that there were still nearly 5 billion euros in unpaid liabilities. They stay away from danger.