The European Commission proposed, on Wednesday 14 July, to revise the current legislation on land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) in order to give Member States stronger incentives to increase their natural carbon sinks (see EUROPE 12755/1).
The proposal is part of the legislative package designed to put the EU on track to reduce its net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by at least 55% by 2030.
The proposed amendments introduce only minor changes to the LULUCF Regulation for the first compliance period (2021-2025).
The Commission proposes to set binding targets for Member States to increase their net carbon removals in the land use and forestry sector between 2026 and 2030.
With the new targets set, net carbon removals in the EU should reach -310 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2030, which is +15% compared to today.
National targets. The Commission proposes a three-step approach with evolving Member State targets until 2025, then from 2026 to 2030 and from 2031 to 2035. The current rules remain in force until 2025.
New targets for increased net carbon removals are foreseen for the period 2026-2030.
The proposal sets an EU-wide target of -310 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent of net carbon removals by 2030.
Member States will be subject to binding targets for the period 2026-2030.
Member State targets will be based on the average level of removals or emissions from 2016 to 2018, as well as their potential increase based on the available managed land area in each Member State.
Climate neutrality. The proposal aims for an EU-wide target for climate neutrality for the whole land sector in 2035, balancing all greenhouse gas emissions from land use, forestry and agriculture with removals from these three sectors at EU level.
Member States are obliged to contribute to reaching the collective target, and by mid-2024 will present in their National Energy and Climate Plans how they intend to achieve this objective.
The Commission will propose Member State targets to achieve by the end of 2025, as well as possible EU-wide measures.
Natural disturbances (forest fires, wood-eating insects) can affect the ability of Member States to increase their carbon uptake.
The current LULUCF Regulation already offers Member States several flexibility and trading options to exclude extreme emissions due to natural disturbances.
The proposal adapts these flexibility rules to the period between 2026 and 2030.
The following options are available to Member States that cannot meet their targets: - purchasing absorption units from Member States that have exceeded their targets; - cancelling a share of a Member State’s annual emission allocations under the Effort Sharing Regulation if it outperforms its target; - using its legally-defined share of an overall flexibility mechanism that offers Member States flexibility up to a fixed limit, provided that the overall EU target of -310 Mt is achieved; - requesting an additional share of the overall flexibility mechanism, provided that the Member State has exhausted all other available flexibilities and the overall EU target of -310 Mt is achieved.
For the post-2030 period, the proposal creates an obligation for national governments to explain how they intend to contribute to the collective target of climate neutrality in 2035 via their National Energy and Climate Plans, which will be updated by mid-2024. The Commission will propose, by the end of 2025, individual Member State targets and EU-wide measures for the post-2030 period.
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has incentives. “We hope that the eco-schemes will provide an incentive for farmers to switch to more environmentally friendly practices”, said a senior EU official.
Link to the legislative proposal: https://bit.ly/2VybO2U (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)