On Tuesday, 1 September, the German Presidency of the Council of the European Union sent the Member States its first compromise proposal on the future ‘Climate Law’.
Presented by the European Commission on 4 March, the climate law consists of a proposal for a European regulation aimed at enshrining the objective of climate neutrality by 2050 in European Union legislation, while establishing intermediate targets (see EUROPE 12439/2).
Amending the Commission's initial proposal, the draft compromise, obtained by EUROPE, revises in particular the way in which the trajectory that the European Union should follow between 2030 and 2050 in order to achieve climate neutrality is set.
While the Commission suggested that this post-2030 trajectory should be defined by the adoption of delegated acts and reexamined no later than 6 months after each global review under the Paris agreement (i.e. every 5 years from 2023), the German text, for its part, provides for a revision of the Climate Act, if necessary, in order to set a target for 2040, “where it is necessary for the achievement of the climate neutrality objective”.
As expected (see EUROPE 12493/18), the possibility of using delegated acts - which would have given more power to the Commission in setting climate objectives (see EUROPE 12438/3) - is thus removed by the German authorities.
They prefer a proposal for a revision to define the 2040 target, and thus the path towards climate neutrality, through the co-decision procedure, similar to the Commission proposal for the 2030 target.
At present, the Union's climate objectives are defined by unanimous agreement of the EU Heads of State or Government. Through the co-decision procedure, the 2030 and 2040 targets would be set by qualified majority.
The German draft compromise also states that, within 6 months of the second comprehensive review (which will take place in 2028), the Commission “may propose to revise the Union’s climate target for 2040 [...] with a view to ensuring progress towards the Union’s 2050 climate neutrality objective”.
Another change to note: Berlin is of the opinion that the Commission should assess, before their adoption, the compatibility of all its future initiatives with making progress on adaptation to climate change, in addition to their compatibility with the objective of climate neutrality.
The German compromise proposal will be examined by national experts in the EU Council's Environment Working Party on 7 and 8 September.
On the European Parliament's side, the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI), responsible for this dossier, will vote on Thursday on the amended draft report by Swedish MEP Jytte Guteland (S&D, Sweden).
Three days before (Monday), the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), as an associated committee, will vote on the amended draft opinion of Zdzisław Krasnodębski (ECR, Poland) on this dossier.
See the compromise proposal: https://bit.ly/2EPpiPU (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)