On Thursday 9 February, MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) approved five provisional agreements in the ‘Fit for 55’ package, including the much-debated regulations on the Emissions Trading System (ETS) and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).
ETS
MEPs first voted in favour of the regulation revising the ETS (57 votes in favour, 13 against and 6 abstentions). Rapporteur Peter Liese (EPP, German) welcomed this: “We will save 1500 million tonnes of CO2, which is why the ETS is the cornerstone of our climate policy until 2030”.
The Member States, for their part, approved the agreement on 8 February (see EUROPE 13117/20).
CBAM
Immediately afterwards, MEPs also approved the agreement on the regulation establishing the CBAM to tax the emissions contained in certain imports (63 in favour, 7 against). The rapporteur on the CBAM, Mohammed Chahim (S&D, Dutch), hailed it as a “historic” moment.
ETS for aviation
In the same voting session, MEPs approved the amendment of the directive on the EU Emissions Trading System for aviation (63 votes in favour, 12 against).
Stability reserve
Finally, they voted in favour of the draft decision for the market stability reserve for the EU Emissions Trading System (64 in favour, 12 against, one abstention).
The regulation for a Social Climate Fund was also approved (see other news).
All these texts should be voted on in plenary in April, except for the one on the market stability reserve (March).
Energy performance of buildings
Furthermore, the members of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy adopted their report on the revision of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) (see EUROPE 13116/9). (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)