On Thursday 15 April, the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union sent the European Parliament a new ‘four-column’ document containing its compromise proposals and red lines for the sixth round of interinstitutional negotiations ('trilogues') on the ‘Climate Law’, to be held on Tuesday 20 April.
The positions of the co-legislators converge in particular on the question of the creation of a European scientific body on climate change.
While some Member States favoured the idea of networking existing national bodies, the Presidency document, obtained by EUROPE, proposes a compromise close to the Parliament’s initial proposal (see EUROPE 12568/6).
The text suggests the establishment of “a European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change” which would serve as “a reference point for the Union’s scientific knowledge on climate change, based on its independence and scientific and technical expertise”.
This body would comprise 13 or 15 scientific experts, each of whom would be a national of a different Member State and “whose independence is beyond doubt”. The latter would be appointed by the European Environment Agency (EEA) for a three-year term (the Parliament proposed five years), renewable once.
‘GHG Budget’
Another issue that should be resolved at the next trilogue is the establishment of an EU ‘greenhouse gas budget’ (another Parliament proposal).
When proposing the EU’s climate target for 2040, the European Commission will have to take into account, among other things, “available information on the EU’s indicative greenhouse gas budget for the period 2030-2050” and publish a separate report on that budget, the Council’s proposed compromise states.
This budget is defined in the document as “the indicative total volume of net greenhouse gas emissions (expressed as CO2 equivalent) that are expected to be emitted during this period without putting at risk the Union’s commitments under the Paris Agreement”.
For its part, the Parliament wants the ‘GHG budget’ to be used as one of the criteria for determining the 2040 climate target.
Sectoral roadmaps
The Portuguese document also includes a compromise proposal on the establishment of sectoral roadmaps for decarbonisation.
In their report adopted on 7 October (see EUROPE 12577/12), MEPs demanded that, following a dialogue between the Commission and all the stakeholders in a given sector, the Commission publishes a roadmap for the sector concerned to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest.
The Council, for its part, proposes that these roadmaps be drawn up by the various sectors on a voluntary basis, with the support of the Commission.
Red lines.
In contrast, Member States continue to reject several of the Parliament's major proposals en bloc.
In addition to the EU’s 2030 climate target, which remains the stumbling block in the negotiations, and the proposal to apply the climate neutrality target to each individual Member State (see EUROPE 12699/9), the issue of access to climate justice is also problematic.
While an amendment by the Parliament aims to ensure a right to climate action by strengthening the possibility for citizens to sue their governments for failure to meet their climate commitments, the Council considers that this amendment goes beyond the scope of the European Climate Law.
Furthermore, Member States refuse to provide for an obligation for the EU institutions and all Member States to phase out all direct and indirect fossil fuel subsidies as soon as possible, and no later than 2025.
They also reject a Parliament amendment that the EU should end protection for fossil fuel investments as part of the modernisation of the Energy Charter Treaty.
See the document: https://bit.ly/3x3YLV9 (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)