[Briefing] Climate Action as a Strategic Priority for the New Pact for the Mediterranean

This briefing was facilitated by the Mediterranean Alliance of Think Tanks on Climate Change (MATTCCh), supported by IMAL and other member think-tanks CREAF, ECDPM, ECCO, eco-union, E3G, EMEA, IEMed, IPC, SEFiA, TEPAV, ZERO.

The full briefing may be accessed here and downloaded below. It is also published here on the open-access science repository Zenodo.

MATTCCh Briefing - Climate Action as a Strategic Priority for the New Pact for the Mediter.

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The European Union's initiative to forge a New Pact for the Mediterranean, spearheaded by the newly established Directorate-General for the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf (DG MENA), presents a critical opportunity to reshape the EU's engagement with its Southern Neighbourhood. This Pact aims to establish a cooperation framework addressing the multifaceted challenges and shared development aspirations of the Mediterranean region today. With a focus on fostering common prosperity, security, and resilience, the Pact seeks to build comprehensive partnerships across various sectors. The European Commission intends the Pact to include a number of areas of mutual interest, such as trade, investment, economic stability, environment, energy, digital and transport connectivity, security, migration as well as climate mitigation and adaptation. 

Climate change and climate action, and their cascading, cross-cutting effects on many other issues, including migration and security, make it a necessary consideration for establishing a strong and sustainable partnership across the Mediterranean. 

This policy brief, facilitated by the Mediterranean Alliance of Think Tanks on Climate Change (MATTCCh), argues that for the New Pact for the Mediterranean to be truly fit-for-purpose and sustainable, climate action must be embedded across all priority areas, integrated into economic, security, energy and development agendas in a targeted and organic way. 

To ensure that the New Pact for the Mediterranean comprehensively responds to the climate crisis, this policy brief identifies three essential pillars for enabling effective climate action in the region: (1) resilience, adaptation, and loss & damage; (2) mitigation, decarbonization, and net-zero targets; and finally, (3) cooperation and means of implementation.

Key points: 

• The New Pact for the Mediterranean is an opportunity to enhance EU–Southern Neighbourhood cooperation, with climate action a key pillar. Given the region’s high exposure and extreme vulnerabilities to climate-related hazards and the importance of decarbonization for the region’s future, climate action must be prioritized.

• The Pact should feature flagship initiatives for regional climate change mitigation, including notably the ambitious vision for deployment of renewable energy toward 1 TeraWatt of installed capacity in the Mediterranean (“TeraMed”). Such ambition should be matched by investments in energy efficiency, grid modernization, region-wide electrification and cross-border electricity interconnections to accelerate a secure, affordable and just net-zero transition across the Mediterranean, in line with the COP28 UAE Consensus goals.

• Resilience, adaptation to climate change, and response to climate-related loss and damage must be prioritized as a pillar of regional stability and security, with strong investment in water, energy, food, and ecosystem restoration and resilience through an integrated WEFE (Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem) approach, as well as investment in communities and resilient sustainable development to ensure social cohesion and provide alternatives to migration.

• Enhanced cooperation between both shores of the Mediterranean to leverage respective areas of potential against intertwined economic, industrial and security challenges will be essential for achieving strategic objectives of European and Mediterranean countries in a difficult global context. For the EU, this requires expanding international climate finance flows, improving access to affordable finance for sustainable development, and aligning public funding with regional priorities.

• ​​To succeed, the Pact must embed climate action (including on nature) across all sectors while fostering inclusive governance with Southern partners to ensure shared ownership and durable cooperation.