European lawmakers to consider tougher climate law – draft

European Union lawmakers are considering toughening the bloc’s planned climate law, with stricter near-term emission goals and a binding commitment for every member state to decarbonize by 2050, according to a draft document seen by Reuters. Such goals are required if the world is to stick within limits scientists say are needed to avoid devastating fallout from global warming, the lead author of the document, Swedish lawmaker Jytte Guteland, said.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive, proposed the law in March – weeks before the coronavirus pandemic prompted an economic crisis that the bloc has pledged to tackle with “green” investment. Under a draft proposal for the parliament’s position on the law, each individual EU country would need to reduce its national emissions to net zero by 2050 and achieve net “removals” of greenhouse gases after that date.

This is tougher than the Commission’s bloc-wide 2050 target, which had raised the possibility that some of its 27 members could decarbonise later, if others did so early. The draft also calls for the EU’s 2030 climate target to be tightened to a 65% cut in emissions from 1990 levels, rather than the 50% or 55% cut being considered by the Commission. Guteland, who guides the parliament’s talks on the climate law, said the proposal fits the emissions pathway scientists say would avoid catastrophic climate change.

Making EU climate goals binding at national level could also deter countries concerned about the costs of reaching net zero, which the Commission says would require up to 290 billion euros of additional investments each year. Poland was the only EU country to refuse to commit to the bloc-wide 2050 net zero emissions target, but the Czech Republic has called for climate aims to be dropped amid the pandemic. On the other side, green groups had said the Commission’s climate law proposal to clamp down on emissions after 2030 was too late. Countries not on track would receive recommendations from the Commission, and could face fines if they flout the advice.

Source: Reuters