The Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union affirmed to the Member States its determination not to deviate from the mandate given by the European Council with regard to the EU’s climate objectives for 2030 and 2050, on Thursday 18 March, during an informal discussion of the 27 European Environment Ministers on the interinstitutional negotiations (‘trilogues’) on the ‘Climate Law’.
While these issues have so far not been discussed by the negotiators in the European Parliament and the Council of the EU, this could change.
“As the Presidency, we strongly feel that in order to move forward, it's now time to look at the full picture with all the elements of the proposal on the table so that we can work towards a balanced overall compromise package”, said the Portuguese Minister for the Environment and Energy Transition, João Pedro Fernandes.
And he continued in the same breath, “I want to reassure you that the Presidency will continue to defend the Council’s position on the politically most sensitive issues, namely the climate neutrality objective and the 2030, in accordance with the strong mandate that we received”.
In conclusions adopted after the European Council of 11 December 2020, the 27 Heads of State or Government of the Member States agreed to raise the EU’s climate target for 2030 to a net reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of at least 55% compared to 1990 levels (see EUROPE 12621/1).
They also recalled that the 2050 climate neutrality target applies to the EU as a whole, whereas the Parliament wants it to apply equally to each Member State and champions a 2030 target of 60%.
These guidelines were subsequently endorsed by the Environment Ministers, thereby confirming the EU Council’s position for the trilogues (see EUROPE 12625/1).
Reacting to the Portuguese Presidency’s statement, several ministers called for no change in the spirit of the political agreement (‘general approach’) reached between the Member States.
The Czech minister, in particular, felt that the EU Council had already made concessions. He said it was now up to Parliament to withdraw “a number of unacceptable demands”.
The same is true for Poland, which insisted that the modalities for reaching the 2030 target should not be set out in the ‘Climate Law’, but later in the ‘Fit for 55’ package of initiatives due in June.
Austria, on the other hand, felt that the EU Council could be a little more flexible on climate neutrality by making a gesture to the Parliament. Like other countries, such as Denmark and Sweden, Vienna would indeed prefer that the objective of neutrality also apply to each individual Member State.
Co-legislators play the blame game
Saying that Parliament must show a spirit of compromise, Mr Fernandes said the EU Council had already made “significant efforts” to find compromises on some of the proposals dear to MEPs, such as the creation of a European scientific body on climate change and the establishment of an EU ‘GHG budget’ and sectoral roadmaps towards climate neutrality.
This contrasts with the view of Parliament’s negotiators on Friday 12 March that it is the Council of the EU that is blocking the negotiations by refusing to discuss the 2030 and 2050 targets (see EUROPE 12678/14).
With the next trilogue scheduled for 26 March, the co-legislators hope to reach an agreement before the international climate summit announced by US President Joe Biden on 22 April, Earth Day.
Adapting to climate change
During their meeting, the Environment Ministers also unanimously welcomed the new strategy on adaptation to climate change, presented by the European Commission on Wednesday 24 February (see EUROPE 12665/4).
In turn, they stressed the importance of integrating climate change adaptation aspects into all relevant policies, deploying nature-based solutions, supporting the local and regional levels, having solid data or using digitalisation.
The Portuguese Presidency hopes to adopt EU Council conclusions on the matter in June. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)