On Thursday 13 November in Brussels, the European Parliament narrowly adopted its position on the amendment to the European Climate Law to include an intermediate target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. The final vote, which took place at the time of COP30 (see EUROPE 13750/18), was 379 in favour of the text, 248 against and 10 abstentions, supported by a near-majority of the S&D, Renew Europe, Greens/EFA and The Left groups, as well as part of the EPP.
After opposing the rejection amendment tabled by far-right rapporteur Ondřej Knotek (PfE, Czech) in the Committee on Environment (ENVI) (see EUROPE 13749/7), the European Parliament agreed on a text similar to the position of the EU Council adopted on 5 November (see EUROPE 13746/1). Further attempts at rejection by PfE and ECR were unsuccessful.
Like the environment ministers, MEPs agreed on a domestic target of a 90% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, including the use of international carbon credits for up to 5% of this target. They also included a one-year postponement of the ETS2 emissions trading system to 2028 and strengthened the regulation’s review clause.
The Parliament’s report nevertheless highlights the need to ensure the “environmental integrity” of international carbon credits, which are governed by Article 6 of the Paris Climate Agreement and enable the EU to finance decarbonisation projects in third countries. The Parliament also insists that these credits should be “based on credible and transformative activities in partner countries whose climate targets and policies are compatible with the targets of the Paris Agreement”.
Division within the EPP. The vote was marked by the division of the EPP, with 61 members not supporting the text and 100 who did.
While the EPP shadow rapporteur, Lídia Pereira (Portuguese), was pleased that the proposal included “important social and economic guarantees, such as a one-year postponement of ETS2”, the EPP coordinator for the ENVI Committee, Peter Liese (German), said he “personally” regretted the postponement, but accepted it “in a spirit of compromise”.
For the groups on the left of the political spectrum, the agreement is not as ambitious as they would have liked, but it is “better than no agreement at all”, as Tiemo Wölken (German), S&D spokesperson on the ENVI Committee, pointed out after the Committee vote.
For the Greens/EFA co-rapporteur, Lena Schilling (Austrian), the inclusion of international carbon credits, “the scope of which we do not know”, is not a good signal. Nevertheless, she told Agence Europe that the Parliament had done its best, “given the circumstances (...), at a time when the ‘Green Deal’ is under attack”. “Today we have taken a small step forward”, she welcomed.
Negotiations with the EU Council can now begin, with the aim of reaching an interinstitutional agreement before the end of the year. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry and Pauline Denys)