On Tuesday 27 August, as part of a procedure launched last February, Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe and the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) presented their final arguments to challenge the annual emissions quotas set by the EU for each Member State between now and 2030.
These quotas are set out in an implementing decision by the European Commission in June 2023 (see EUROPE 13212/7) concerning the ‘Effort Sharing Regulation’.
The NGOs claim that the emission reduction targets set for Member States under this regulation in various sectors (buildings, agriculture, transport, waste, small-scale industry) contravene environmental law and international commitments.
CAN Europe and GLAN are therefore asking the Court of Justice of the EU to annul the European Commission’s decision of December 2023 rejecting their request for a review.
“We explained that the EU’s 2030 targets were not based on the best available climate science, a point that the Commission did not even contest in its defence of our case”, said Gerry Liston, GLAN’s lead counsel.
Overall, the NGOs believe that the EU’s climate ambitions fall short of the 1.5°C target set out in the Paris Agreement, and are calling for emissions to be cut by at least 65% by 2030.
CAN Europe and GLAN now expect the European Commission to submit its final written observations by 26 September 2024, prior to a public hearing in Luxembourg in the first half of 2025. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)