On the night of Thursday 10 to Friday 11 November, after several hours of difficult discussions, negotiators from the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union agreed to set the EU’s 2030 target for net greenhouse gas (GHG) removals from land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) at 310 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, about 15% higher than the current target.
Confirming the European Commission’s original proposal (see EUROPE 12762/4), the provisional agreement between the co-legislators on the revision of the LULUCF regulation raises the EU’s 2030 GHG emissions reduction target from 55% to 57%.
The 55% target set by the European climate law was determined by taking into account 225 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent of net removals (the limit imposed by the climate law on the contribution of net removals to the target), i.e. 85 million tonnes less.
In order to achieve the 310 million tonne net removals target, Member States will have to follow a linear path starting in 2022 at their average emission value for the years 2021, 2022 and 2023, and ending in 2030 at the value set in the regulation for each country.
The current rules, whereby emissions do not exceed removals, will continue to apply until 2025. For the period from 2026 to 2030, when removals are expected to exceed emissions, a binding national 2030 target will be set for each EU country. The agreement retains the distribution of targets between Member States proposed by the Commission.
Member States obtain flexibilities
While the majority of the Parliament’s political groups (Greens/EFA, S&D, EPP, Renew Europe) welcomed the provisional agreement, some environmental NGOs denounced the presence of several flexibilities that weaken the text.
In particular, CAN Europe and Fern criticised the provision to assist Member States that have difficulties in meeting their targets due to natural disturbances affecting the LULUCF sector (such as forest fires, pests and the effects of climate change and organic soils on emissions), subject to the EU as a whole meeting its 2030 target.
“There is a well established link between major forest disasters and industrial management of forests, due to their lack of biodiversity and resilience; excluding these emissions send the signal that poor forest management can continue with no consequences”, the two organisations said.
According to the provisional agreement, Member States will be allowed to use the flexibility mechanism up to a certain limit, provided, inter alia, that they submit evidence to the Commission in accordance with a well-defined methodology.
The agreed text also maintains the possibility to buy and sell absorption units between Member States and to use surplus annual emission allowances under the Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR) to meet LULUCF targets.
Strengthening monitoring and sanctions
The agreement also provides for improved monitoring of LULUCF emissions and removals, including through the use of more geographical data and remote sensing, so as to more accurately track Member States' progress towards their targets.
In case of insufficient progress, a penalty corresponding to 108% of the GHG emission allowance overrun for the period 2026-2029 will be added to their 2030 target.
The Commission will also have to present a report assessing the possibility of including non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture in the scope of the regulation and setting targets for the post-2030 period.
Compliance with the ‘do no significant harm’ principle
Determined to link biodiversity and the climate crisis in the regulation, the Parliament secured the introduction of a provision that Member States will be obliged to take into account the ‘do no significant harm’ principle.
The agreement reached between the negotiators still needs to be approved by each of the co-legislators before it enters into force.
This is the third Interinstitutional Agreement on the EU climate legislative package (‘Fit for 55’ package) after those on the ESR regulation (see EUROPE 13060/6) and on the revision of CO2 emission standards for new vehicles (see EUROPE 13053/1). (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)