TAFF-Briefing

The TAFF-Briefing project team elaborated a policy briefing for the European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Climate and Food Safety (ENVI), which is sending a delegation to the first international Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels (TAFF). At the conference, ambitious countries and stakeholders from politics, science, civil society and business will meet to discuss pathways for a just transition away from fossil fuels and to further develop the relevant policy frameworks.

The briefing provides a scientific analysis of the following key issues: factors that facilitate or hinder transitioning away from fossil fuels; the current geopolitical context; the current global status of transitioning away from fossil fuels within the framework of the UNFCCC; parallel initiatives on transitioning away from fossil fuels; EU measures in this area; the EU’s role in international negotiations, including the role and work of the European Parliament; an overview of the conference’s methodology, measures and working methods; and possible developments and future measures in this area.

Key insights include:

• Despite falling renewable energy costs, the transition away from fossil fuels is impeded by systemic macroeconomic and institutional lock-ins.
• The conference is an example of two-tier multilateralism, aiming to complement the consensus-based process of the climate COPs through a more ambitious "coalition of the willing".
• Potential outcomes could include a second wave of signatories to the Belém Declaration on TAFF, a shift to implementation, transparency tools, legal reforms, and further input for the global TAFF Roadmap that is currently being developed by the Brazilian presidency of the most recent UN climate conference COP30.