On Thursday 27 February, the EU Council acknowledged the relevance of the Court of Auditors' report (18/2019) which, on 20 November 2019, had identified shortcomings in the monitoring of the quality of annual national and EU inventories of reported greenhouse gas emissions and in the quality of information on projected emission reductions at EU level, based on national projections.
The report, entitled 'EU greenhouse gas emissions well reported, but better insight needed into future reductions', pointed out weaknesses in particular in the LULUCF sector and agriculture (see EUROPE 12373/11).
In conclusions adopted without discussion, the EU Council recognised the importance of maintaining high-quality EU greenhouse gas emission inventories and encouraged further cooperation between the Commission and the member states "in order to further improve the ability to project the effect of policies on future emissions".
It notes that the Commission has started discussions with the European Environment Agency (EEA) on how to better integrate the monitoring of the LULUCF inventory into the monitoring process that applies to other sectors.
It recognises that the LULUCF sector can make a significant contribution to achieving the EU's long-term climate objectives and notes that the Regulation on EU governance of the energy union and climate action provides a cross-sectoral framework covering, in particular, agriculture and the LULUCF sector.
The EU Council expresses its support for the efforts of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) towards the rapid implementation of its initial strategy to tackle emissions from international shipping and assures readers provides assurances that it will closely monitor progress in the IMO. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)