Despite three intermittent working sessions and more than 7 hours of cumulative discussions on the subject, the Heads of State or Government of the European Union had still not reached an agreement at the time of going to press (around 6:30 am) on Friday 11 December on the possibility of raising the European Union’s target for reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to ‘at least 55%’ by 2030 (compared to 1990 levels).
The reason for this blockage is the inability of the EU27 to agree on conclusions regarding the ‘enabling framework’, i.e., how to help EU countries – especially the poorer and more fossil-fuel-dependent Member States – to make their energy transition and thus contribute to achieving this new common goal.
A small group of states, led by Poland, are making their accession to the target of at least 55% conditional on obtaining guarantees that they will receive support from the EU to carry out their transition.
They would therefore like the European Council conclusions to contain more details on the instruments to be put in place to this end, in particular with regard to the forthcoming review of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) and the Modernisation Fund.
For countries that had already clearly expressed their support for an emissions reduction of at least 55%, or even more ambitious targets, the ‘enabling framework’ must be detailed downstream, through the European Commission’s proposals and the work of the co-legislators. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)