A further step was taken in Strasbourg on Thursday 14 September towards establishing the rules that will govern the contribution of EU agricultural and forestry activities (Lulucf) in tackling climate change as part of the EU’s 2030 climate goal (reduction of at least 40% in its emissions compared with 1990).
With their vote on the draft regulation which seeks to encourage the Lulucf sector to comply with the target of being carbon neutral by 2030, MEPs came out in favour (by 532 votes to 144, with 20 abstentions) of accounting for the sector’s emissions/absorptions and also for the sustainable management of forests and timber products to be counted as carbons sinks.
An amendment put down by the EPP Group, supported by ALDE and the ECR, however, introduced flexibility which reduced the level of ambition of the compromise reached in the environment committee (see EUROPE 11827).
The text that was approved changed the reference period or “forest reference level”: it will be 2000-2012 rather than 1990-2009 and the member states will have input when the reference values are set. This change applies, then, to the forest biomass and will mean that emissions due to increases in crops grown for bioenergy, which have benefited from incentives under the 2009 renewable energy directive, will not be counted.
“With this regulation, we lay the foundations for a broad recognition and support of our European forests, in order to implement the Paris Agreement. A sustainable management of forests is key. Through this we can achieve both a positive impact on climate change mitigation and a boost for our bio-economy!” said rapporteur Norbert Lins (EPP, Germany).
“The vote creates incoherence between the LULUCF and the Renewable Energy directives. We are subsidising bioenergy on the assumption that we are accounting for its emissions in LULUCF, but the changes made by the Parliament mean this simply will not happen”, regretted Linde Zuiddema bioenergy campaigner at the NGO Fern – making the EU work for people and forests).
Taking account of management of wetlands was, on the other hand, hailed as an improvement brought by Parliament.
For the rest, Parliament kept to the position adopted by its environment committee: until 2030, CO2 emissions and absorption have to be balanced out and, from 2030, there should be more CO2 absorption than emissions, with the target of balancing the emissions and removals to be met in two five-year periods: 2021-25 and 2026-2030. If a member state does not meet its commitment in either period, the shortfall will be deducted from its allocation under the effort sharing regulation.
If the absorption of CO2 is greater than the emissions from land use in the first 5-year period, this credit can be “banked” and used later, to help achieve goals for the second five-year period. Member states may also use part of such credits to comply with national emission reduction targets under the effort sharing regulation.
Inter-institutional negotiations will be able to begin with a view reaching first reading agreement once the Council agrees its position. The Lulucf regulation was presented in July 2016 as part of the summer legislative proposal on the contribution of the sectors not covered by the emissions trading system (the so-called “non-ETS” sectors) to the EU’s 2030 climate targets (see EUROPE 11700 and 11598). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)