Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) are expected to vote in favour of a 60% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (compared to 1990 levels) as the EU’s new climate target for 2030 on Thursday 10 September, according to information gathered by EUROPE, when they vote on compromise amendments to the report by Jytte Guteland (S&D, Sweden), Parliament’s rapporteur on the Climate Law.
The required majority, formed by the S&D, Renew Europe, Greens/EFA and GUE/NGL groups, would however only be obtained by two votes, leaving the possibility of a last-minute turnaround.
On the other hand, it is certain that the compromise amendment defended by the Greens/EFA and GUE/NGL for a 2030 target of -65% will be rejected.
The EPP, the largest group in the European Parliament, is advocating a target of at least -55%. Therefore, even if Mrs Guteland’s amended report - with the target of -60% - is adopted by the ENVI Committee, it is not at all certain that it will be validated by all MEPs at the October plenary session.
For its part, the ECR group has issued a statement announcing that it “will oppose over-reaching measures to reform the EU’s climate change strategy”.
The group fears that raising the 2030 target to -60% or even -65% could lead to “detrimental socio-economic effects [...] on European citizens’ lives and livelihoods”.
As regards the other compromise amendments relating to the 2050 objective, the creation of a European Climate Change Council, or the establishment of a European Union budget for greenhouse gases (see EUROPE 12553/7), the results of the votes are much less uncertain as they have the support of the EPP.
Finally, it should be noted that, according to a recent version of the compromise amendments obtained by EUROPE, no precise figure is proposed for the target for reducing GHG emissions by 2040.
The compromise amendment in question provides that, on the basis of a detailed impact assessment and taking into account the EU budget for greenhouse gases, the Commission will, by 31 May 2023, study the possibilities of setting a target for 2040 for the purpose of presenting legislative proposals. In her initial report, Mrs Guteland suggested a target of -80 to -85%.
See the compromise amendments and the ECR statement: https://bit.ly/2FhN0Ef ; https://bit.ly/3hl9MbS (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)