The European Parliament’s Environment Committee reached a compromise on Tuesday 17 May on the revision of the Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry Regulation (LULUCF).
The compromise amendments were endorsed (see EUROPE 12952/5). The report by Ville Niinistö (Greens/EFA, Finland) on this dossier was adopted with 44 votes in favour, 37 against and 6 abstentions.
In mid-July 2021, as part of the first part of the ‘Fit for 55’ package, the European Commission presented a proposal to encourage Member States to increase and improve their natural carbon sinks, with the aim of achieving net carbon removals of -310 million tonnes CO2 equivalent in the Union by 2030 and climate neutrality in the LULUCF sector by 2035.
MEPs argue that the EU’s 2030 target for net greenhouse gas (GHG) absorption in the LULUCF sector should be at least 310 million tonnes CO2 equivalent. Such an increase would de facto raise the EU’s 2030 GHG reduction target to 57%, as the contribution of net removals to the 55% GHG reduction target in 2030 has been limited to 225 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in the EU climate law, as proposed by the European Parliament.
The Commission will adopt annual targets for the LULUCF sector for each year of the period 2026-2029 based on national trajectories. MEPs also want sub-targets for net greenhouse gas emissions from cropland, grassland and wetlands, both at EU and Member State level. Copa-Cogeca is critical of this aspect of the vote which “does not reflect the nature and dynamics of the agricultural and forestry sectors”.
In addition, there is a penalty for non-compliance (addition of 108% of the excess net GHG removals to the following year’s quota).
Low carbon agriculture. The amendments state that natural carbon sinks are fragile and volatile and should therefore not be pooled with the measurement of emissions from the agricultural sector - contrary to the original proposal.
Instead, MEPs want to support voluntary low-carbon agriculture initiatives to provide at least 50 million additional tonnes of CO2 equivalent of net removals by 2030.
MEPs are calling on the Commission to submit a report assessing the availability and coherence of all available EU funding instruments to scale up climate action in the LULUCF sector to contribute to the objectives.
Post-2030 targets. In order to ensure that the objectives are met, the Commission will have to submit a progress report by 31 December 2024. If current trends and projections show that the EU’s climate targets cannot be met, the Commission will have to come up with proposals to ensure contributions from all sectors, including agriculture.
By 1 January 2025, MEPs want the Commission to adopt a proposal to amend the regulation to set EU and Member State net GHG absorption targets for the LULUCF sector for at least 2035, 2040, 2045 and 2050.
The report is expected to be debated and voted on at the 6-9 June plenary session, after which the Parliament will be ready to start negotiations with the EU Council.
Mr Niinistö welcomes the fact that the EU’s 2030 carbon sink target will be raised through low-carbon agriculture.
Delara Burkhardt (S&D, Germany) welcomed the fact that Member States “will have to take biodiversity concerns into account when taking measures in the LULUCF sector”. It is “good that the Environment Committee rejects the idea of creating an AFOLU sector” (inclusion of the agricultural sector
in the LULUCF sector), she also says. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)