The provisional agreement on the ‘Climate Law’ reached between the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union on Wednesday 21 April is far from unanimous, both in the Parliament and in civil society. The main point of contention is the target of a net reduction in the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions of at least 55% by 2030.
Joining his colleagues Jytte Guteland (S&D, Sweden) and Pascal Canfin (Renew Europe, France) - who praised the agreement at the end of the negotiations (see EUROPE 12703/1) - EPP group negotiator Peter Liese (Germany) called the deal “historic”.
He added: “The 55% target is very ambitious, considering that we reduced (our emissions) 25% from 1990 and 2020 and now we have to reduce 30% in 9 years. It is definitely something to be proud of”.
On The Left side, however, the agreement is seen as “a huge disappointment”, in the words of the group’s negotiator, Silvia Modig (Finland). Like the Greens/EFA negotiator, Michael Bloss (Germany), she pointed out that the 2030 target agreed represents a real reduction in emissions of only 52.8% (see EUROPE 12703/1), while regretting that the 2050 climate neutrality target does not apply to individual Member States.
The ECR group, on the other hand, welcomed the fact that the climate neutrality target is set for the whole of the EU, as “some countries have further to go”. The Conservatives also considered the 2030 target to be both “overly ambitious” and “based on poor impact assessments”.
Environmental NGOs disappointed
Environmental NGOs, for their part, have widely criticised the agreement, in particular the 2030 target, which is judged to be contrary to what science requires.
“The EU is more worried about having something to brag about at Biden’s climate summit (on 22-23 April) than it is about what it means for the climate emergency”, said Silvia Pastorelli of Greenpeace. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)