Success for the Estonian Presidency Council of the EU, as it enters its last days, at European Parliament negotiators. Inter-institutional negotiations on the draft regulation which seeks to calculate forestry and agriculture greenhouse emissions and absorptions, with a view to achieving a balance between the two, reached agreement in Strasbourg on Thursday morning of 14 December (see EUROPE 11923).
The provisional inter-institutional agreement reached on the so-called Lulucf (Land use, land-use change and forestry) draft regulation is a major step forward for the EU towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions in sectors not covered by the ETS by 30% by 2030, compared with 2005. Once adopted, the regulation will contribute to the EU’s overall climate target of reducing its emissions by at least 40% by 2030, compared with 1990.
The Estonian Presidency, which had made climate issues a priority, is delighted. “The EU is putting in place the tools it need to reach its Paris climate goals. With today’s agreement, our green resources will also help us mitigate climate change”, said Environment Council President Siim Kiisler, expressing the hope that the member states can endorse the agreement before the end of the year.
“This is yet another example of Europe’s determination to turn the Paris Agreement into a reality, through concrete policies and measures”, said Climate Action and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete.
Under the agreement, the member states will be required to make sure that total emissions from their Lulucf sector do not exceed the level of its CO2 absorption, in line with the no-debit rule which remains central to the regulation and which will apply over two periods – 2021-2025 and 2026-2030, as Parliament wanted. To offset the EU emissions, member states will be able to plant trees (afforestation) and improve the sustainable management of forests, agricultural land and grasslands.
The forest reference level for the various countries will be based on the 2000-2009 period, selected as the historic reference, as the Council wished.
To help member states comply with their commitments over the two periods, flexibilities are built in to the new regulation.
The additional flexibility that is the compensation mechanism of up to 360 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent over 10 years (or 10% of the average annual EU carbon sink over the whole period from 2021 to 2030) will be available to all member states over the 2021-2013 period. This will be the case so long as their forests continue to act as a carbon sink up to a certain pre-determined quantity of tonnes of CO2 equivalent which will be calculated for each country on the basis of its average carbon sink over the 2000-2009 period. It will only be possible to use this flexibility as a last resort, that is to say, after all other room for manoeuvre has already been used, and the EU collectively is in compliance with the no-debit rule. These are guarantees brought by the joint legislators so as not overly to weaken the effectiveness of the regulation.
Finland, as a major timber producing country, has been granted additional compensation of 10 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent for the whole period, as the Council wanted (see EUROPE 11884). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)