The German Presidency of the Council of the European Union is prepared to reach a political agreement between the Member States on the Climate Law at the next meeting of the Environment Ministers on 23 October, according to German State Secretary at the Environment Ministry Jochen Flasbarth, speaking at a web conference on Tuesday, 13 October.
However, this requires that the 27 Heads of State or Government of the Member States give their green light to this scenario beforehand at the end of their meeting on Thursday 15 and Friday 16 October.
Asked whether the EU27 are likely to agree to let their environment ministers have the say on the 'Climate Law' and, in particular, the decision to raise the EU's target for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to -55% by 2030, Flasbarth could not provide a concrete answer.
He just noted that some Member States in favour of such an increase wish to move towards this option in order to be able to vote according to the qualified majority rule, while others who are “more reluctant”, want the question to be decided by the Heads of State according to the unanimity rule (see EUROPE 12575/20).
Germany wants a deal this year
On the same day, in a debate with the European Committee of the Regions, German Chancellor Angela Merkel reiterated her support for a 2030 target raised to at least -55%.
Germany supports this goal as well as the adoption of the 'Climate Law' “this year”, she said.
This willingness to reach an agreement before the end of the year is also clear from the latest provisional version of the conclusions of the European Council of 15 and 16 October, which EUROPE has obtained.
The new draft conclusions now emphasise that the objective is “agreeing a new emissions reduction target for 2030 and the submission of the EUʼs updated Nationally Determined Contribution to the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) before the end of the year”, as required by the Paris Agreement.
Like the previous draft conclusions (see EUROPE 12575/20), the text nevertheless states that the European Council “will return to the issue [of the 2030 objective] at its December meeting”.
Estonia supports the -55% target
While Estonia's position remained rather unclear (see EUROPE 12572/10), “the Estonian government decided to support raising the EU's climate ambition target to 55% by 2030”, Estonian Prime Minister Jüri Ratas announced a few hours later on Twitter.
See the draft conclusions of the European Council: https://bit.ly/33RcDWe (Original version in French by Damien Genicot with Mathieu Bion)