The EU Council’s and the European Parliament’s negotiators reached on April 21, 2021 a provisional political agreement setting into law the objective of a climate-neutral EU by 2050, and a collective, net greenhouse gas emissions reduction target (emissions after deduction of removals) of at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990.
The negotiators agreed also that the Commission would propose an intermediate climate target for 2040, if appropriate, at the latest within six months after the first global stocktake carried out under the Paris Agreement. It will at the same time publish a projected indicative Union’s greenhouse gas budget for the period 2030-2050, together with its underlying methodology. The budget is defined as the indicative total volume of net greenhouse gas emissions (expressed as CO2 equivalent and providing separate information on emissions and removals) that are expected to be emitted in that period without putting at risk the Union’s commitments under the Paris Agreement.
In addition, the provisional agreement includes the establishment of a European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change, composed of 15 senior scientific experts of different nationalities with no more than 2 members holding the nationality of the same member state for a mandate of four years. This independent board will be tasked, among other things, with providing scientific advice and reporting on EU measures, climate targets and indicative greenhouse gas budgets and their coherence with the European climate law and the EU’s international commitments under the Paris Agreement.
Climate Leadership Coalition welcomes the overall outcome of the negotiations with some remarks.
We are pleased that the agreement includes the definition of a carbon budget. This would create a good framework for widening the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) and improve the predictability of climate policies and carbon price. But as we and a large coalition of supporters view instead of being ”indicative” it should be ”binding”.
We support the establishment of a European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change, and remind that the massive industrial and societal transformation will need also expertise on the transformation itself, not only about climate science.
Climate Leadership Coalition is the largest climate business network in Europe. CLC is a non-profit association and its 86 organisational members employ 520 000 people globally. CLC’s corporate members represent almost 70% of the market cap of OMX Nasdaq Helsinki. CLC’s members believe that transitioning society towards a sustainable economy and consumption habits is not only possible but also economically viable.
More information: Jouni Keronen, CEO, Climate Leadership Coalition, jouni.keronen@clc.fi, p. +358 50 4534881
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