As the European Commission prepares to present its ‘Fit for 55’ legislative package aimed at achieving a reduction in the EU’s net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament expressed concerns that the package is overly focused on carbon market mechanisms in an online press conference on Tuesday 13 July.
The group is particularly critical of the proposed revision of the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), an initiative for which drafts have been leaked to the press (see EUROPE 12760/2, 12752/1).
“The Greens see the value of including maritime and air transport [in the current ETS], but we are against the inclusion of road transport and buildings”, said Damien Carême (France).
“The ‘all carbon market’ approach is a dead end”, agreed his colleague Marie Toussaint (France).
In their view, the creation of a separate, but adjacent to the current system, ETS for emissions from road transport and buildings (heating) “would lead to a very complicated system” and “risks having a disproportionate impact on consumers”. This criticism has already been voiced by other MEPs such as Pascal Canfin (Renew Europe, France), chairman of the Parliament’s Environment Committee (ENVI) (see EUROPE 12748/35).
While the Commission intends to create a ‘Social Climate Action Mechanism’ to mitigate the possible social impacts of the new ETS, Ms Toussaint expressed serious reservations about the institution’s plans, which have been leaked to the press (see EUROPE 12760/3).
“What is proposed today is to retain only 20% of the revenues [from the new ETS for road transport and buildings] and is based on unanimity, as it requires a revision of the Multiannual Financial Framework and own resources. So it is a device that is difficult to implement in political terms”, she lamented.
And Mr Carême added, “We would prefer more ambitious sectoral policies with binding targets for these sectors rather than including them in the ETS, for example higher CO2 standards for cars and mandatory requirements to improve the energy efficiency of buildings”.
It should be noted that the Commission will propose a revision of the EU CO2 emission standards for new cars and vans (see EUROPE 12760/1), as well as a recast of the Energy Efficiency Directive (2018/2002) (see EUROPE 12756/17, 12755/2) as part of the ‘Fit for 55’ package. While the details of the first initiative are not yet known, it would appear that the Commission is not planning to introduce binding national energy efficiency targets for 2030, given the “strong opposition of the majority of Member States” to this option.
It should be recalled that the Greens/EFA concerns are only based on the draft versions of the 12 legislative initiatives in the ‘Fit for 55’ package, as the Commission’s official proposals will only be unveiled on Wednesday (see EUROPE 12759/2). (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)