The European Union wants to become climate neutral. This remained just nice words for a long time, but it will become a lot more concrete with the climate package that the European Commission is presenting on Wednesday. Twelve special laws must ensure that European greenhouse gas emissions are at least 2030 percent below 55 levels by 1990. Giving away free emission allowances for major polluters must stop immediately, experts tell NU.nl.
Creating a 'circular' economy in thirty years and eliminating all forms of pollution: the Green Deal is about more than climate change, but that is an important part.
European greenhouse gas emissions must be (net) zero by 2050, and 2030 percent lower in 55 than in 1990. The European Parliament, the European Council and government leaders all agree on this. Now it comes to the actual policy.
The 'fit for 55' package proposed by the European Commission consists of twelve new or amended laws. Taken together, these actually include all topics that are technically necessary on the road to a sustainable society.
There are guidelines for sustainable energy, energy taxes, forestry and land use and CO2 standards for passenger cars. Large-scale energy savings and the search for alternative fuels for aviation and shipping are also discussed, as are large-scale infrastructure adjustments, such as the construction of a European network of charging stations.
The Netherlands must also set a higher climate target (during formation).
It would have been nice if the outgoing cabinet had taken a position on which parts of the European plan are important for the Netherlands, Ed Nijpels, chairman of the Climate Agreement progress consultation, told NU.nl. “But the fact is that more will be added, possibly also with CO2 taxes for mobility and the built environment.”
“For the formation table, this means that there is now a lot of work to be done, choices have to be made immediately.” According to Nijpels, the most important thing is that the Netherlands, like many countries around us and the European Union as a whole, must also set a higher climate target for 2030. We are also obliged to do so within the EU.
“The minimum outcome of the cabinet formation must be that the Netherlands sets itself the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 percent in the Netherlands by 55, knowing that this is a compromise, and that countries such as Denmark, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom The Kingdom will still go much faster and further than we do.”
CO2 price above 50 euros, will emissions trading work?
The new climate package may also be a breakthrough for the emissions trading system, which Europe has been working on since 2005 and which, among other things, should encourage heavy industry to also reduce CO2 emissions. Central to the system is that polluting must cost money, and that there is therefore a price for CO2.
For years, the CO2 price remained stuck at around 10 euros per tonne. This meant that pollution remained so cheap that the incentive to become more sustainable was not strong enough. The reason: too many 'emission rights' were given away. The solution is therefore simple: fewer emission allowances within the trading system - supply and demand will automatically drive the price up and CO2 emissions down.
That game seems to have already started: the European CO2 price reached 50 euros per tonne for the first time this year and is now fluctuating slightly above that level. This already happened in anticipation of the European climate package, and also due to the recovery of the economy, climate policy professor Heleen de Coninck of Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) tells NU.nl.
“I have always been in favor of the emissions trading system, even when the price was low and there were calls everywhere for its abolition. But pricing instruments do not automatically lead to transitions, where targeted policy remains necessary.”
CO2 import tax must put an end to 'emission subsidy'
Sectors that suffer from international competition receive free emission allowances. The problem is that major polluters are indirectly subsidized.
To solve this, it will soon be reversed: a CO2 tax must be paid for the import of Chinese steel, for example, then there will no longer be a competitive disadvantage. De Coninck calls this CO2 border tax “revolutionary and necessary”.
But in addition to the import tax, the European industry wants to receive free emission rights for another fifteen years, says Bas Eickhout, MEP of GroenLinks. “Then it doesn't work. With CO2 pricing you must ensure that those who emit the most also pay the most. That seems to be wrong in the current proposal.”
European aviation receives free emission rights for flights within Europe, where there is no competition. That is actually a subsidy for aviation companies.
The Green Deal versus the Paris Agreement
Yvo de Boer, former head of the UN Climate Treaty, points out the importance of climate cooperation beyond European borders. “How can you increase the distrust of developing countries even more? By imposing an import tax on them and then providing free emission allowances to European industry.”
Not all sectors are covered by the emissions trading system. That is why individual countries must also implement national climate policies. This must be 10 percent more ambitious to achieve the EU climate target, in addition to tightening the emissions trading system.
The climate package will be discussed after the summer by the European Parliament and the European Council, which will vote on all individual bills. That could take years.
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