With the Heads of State or Government of the Member States meeting on 10 and 11 December, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, gave initial guidelines to national delegations on Tuesday 24 November on facilitating an agreement among the EU-27 on increasing the EU’s climate target for 2030.
Unsurprisingly, Mr Michel suggested that Member States endorse the European Commission’s proposal to increase the EU’s 2030 reduction target for net greenhouse gas emissions to ‘at least 55%’ below 1990 levels (see EUROPE 12561/5).
This objective must be achieved collectively and “in a way that preserves the EU’s competitiveness and takes account of Member States’ national circumstances”, the document obtained by EUROPE goes on to state, in addition to emphasising the need to “respect the right of the Member States to decide on their energy mix”.
These are clarifications that have been insisted upon by a number of Member States, in particular Poland and Hungary, for whom the issue of the ‘enabling framework’, – i.e. the collection of instruments, incentives, support and investments intended to assist Member States in their energy transition, while taking into account the position from which they have started – is a key element in their adherence to the objective of reducing emissions by at least 55%.
For Hungary, the question of the 2030 objective “depends on the details of the enabling framework currently being negotiated, which will be set out in the European Council conclusions”, a Hungarian official told us.
It would appear that the Hungarian Government – which regularly emphasises how important nuclear power is for decarbonisation in Hungary – could support the 2030 target proposed by the Commission, provided that all Member States adopt national emission reduction targets of at least 40% by 2030.
Regarding the enabling framework, Charles Michel proposed that the European Commission examine in particular how to: (1) reform the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) while preserving its integrity; (2) strengthen emission reductions in sectors that will not be covered by the ETS; (3) introduce a carbon border adjustment mechanism for the EU in order to avoid carbon leakage in a way that is compatible with the World Trade Organization (WTO).
And he noted that: “The European Council invites the Commission to (...) make the necessary legislative proposals accompanied by an examination of the economic, environmental and social impact at Member States’ level”.
The guidelines proposed by Mr Michel also include a call for the Commission to present a legislative proposal on a European standard for green bonds by June 2021 at the latest.
On the basis of reactions from the Member States’ Ambassadors to the EU (Coreper), a first draft of the conclusions should be tabled on Monday 30 November.
Start of the trilogues on ‘Climate Law’
Finally, it should be noted that the inter-institutional negotiations (‘trilogues’) on ‘Climate Law’ will also begin on Monday, according to our information.
Given the current lack of agreement among Member States over the 2030 target, these trilogues will typically only deal with the technical aspects of the ‘Climate Law’ (see EUROPE 12604/15).
The question of the 2030 objective and the other political points of the ‘Climate Law’ will therefore only be negotiated between co-legislators after mid-December, or perhaps even at a later date should the EU-27 fail to reach an agreement at their meeting. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)