As the European Commission prepares to publish its final communication on a 2040 climate target of a 90% reduction in emissions, on Monday 29 January it presented the EU’s progress towards the 2030 and 2050 climate targets to the European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment (ENVI).
Addressing MEPs, Luca De Carli, Deputy Director of the Commission’s DG Climate, stressed that although progress had been made, the EU needed to step up its efforts to combat climate change. He warned that the current intensity of these efforts is not sufficient to achieve the 2030 emissions reduction target. “If we are to meet our 2030 target, we need to more than double the pace of emission reductions”, he said.
He also urged Member States to improve their National Energy and Climate Plans (NECP) (see EUROPE 13317/5) in order to meet the EU’s targets of a 55% reduction in emissions by 2030 and to be carbon-neutral by 2050.
In order to achieve this level of ambition, Mr De Carli said it would be more than useful to have an intermediate target for 2040: “We should engage in the new legislative process, creating a new ‘Fit for 55’ package fit for 2040”.
This is precisely what the Commission’s communication on the 2040 target, expected on 6 February, will introduce, paving the way for a political debate that will lead to the drafting of the appropriate legislative proposal to include the 2040 target in the ‘European Climate Law’.
No proposal above 90%
In a provisional version of this communication seen by EUROPE, the Commission presents a 90% reduction in net greenhouse gas emissions compared to 1990 levels, as recommended as a minimum target by the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change and included in the preferred scenario (between 90 and 95%) of the impact study carried out by the Commission, which will be attached to this communication (see EUROPE 13337/6).
According to the Commission, this target “guarantees the corresponding overall greenhouse gas emissions budget for the EU by 2050, in line with the provisions of the European Climate Law and as a credible path towards a strong and sustainable society in Europe”.
It claims that defining a climate target for 2040 will help EU decision-makers, Member States and stakeholders to make the necessary investment decisions in “this critical decade”, before being carbon neutral in 2050.
However, contrary to the impact study, the Commission does not envisage a target of more than 90%, something that Michael Bloss (Greens/EFA, German) deplores: “The proposal does not achieve the necessary scientific benchmark. To be truly at the forefront of climate protection, the European Union must aim higher, namely a reduction of at least 95% in CO2 emissions by 2040”, he stated.
To achieve its 2040 target, the Communication relies on a decarbonised energy system for buildings, transport and industry; an industrial revolution based on competitiveness, resource efficiency, circularity, industrial decarbonisation and clean tech; and an infrastructure to deliver electricity and transport and store hydrogen and CO2.
It underlines the growing need to develop carbon management on an industrial scale, estimating that carbon capture will have to exceed 300 MtCO2 per year by 2040 to reach the 90% target.
The Commission also wants to improve emissions reductions in the agricultural sector, encourage carbon pricing and turn climate policy into an investment policy.
In particular, it considers that the Innovation Fund and the European Emissions Trading System (ETS) offer EU countries a significant amount of funds that can be used to undertake structural reforms and support the development of low-carbon technologies.
The full, finalised version of the Communication will not be unveiled until 6 February in Strasbourg, at the same time as a targeted EU approach to ‘industrial carbon management’. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry and Pauline Denys)