Many EU countries backed the démarche, with ministers from Denmark and Germany taking a prominent role in the announcement.
In a statement, Germany’s Environment Minister Carsten Schneider called on the meeting “to free ourselves from fossil fuels … it can help with access to energy, lowering prices for households and businesses and strengthening our energy security.”
For the EU to back the initiative, all countries in the 27-nation bloc would need to unify behind it. The EU has recently undergone a tough process of setting new climate goals that drew opposition from countries with ties to coal and the car industry.
“This is completely in the EU interest,” said Jennifer Morgan, Germany’s former climate envoy. “So I’m quite puzzled that there are evidently a couple of member states that are nervous about this.”
EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said: “It is positive that this agenda is being taken forward. Our energy transition in the EU is a transitioning away from fossil fuels on which we have been doing a lot and will continue to do so. It is great others see the merit in this as well.”
This article has been updated to include a comment from Wopke Hoekstra.