Latest news with #EUClimateLaw
Euractiv
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Euractiv
INTERVIEW: Climate commissioner says EU needs to be ‘street smart' in how it meets green targets
The EU needs to be "pragmatic" and "street smart" when figuring out how to meet its self-imposed climate targets, even if it means outsourcing action to the developing world and tweaking previously agreed laws, Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra told Euractiv in an interview. Last week, the European Commission proposed a 2040 greenhouse gas emissions reduction target of 90% below 1990 levels – a full year after the deadline set in the EU Climate Law, which commits the bloc to achieving climate neutrality by 2050. Hoekstra used the delay to build support among member states for the target, as political momentum behind the Green Deal – the hallmark of Ursula von der Leyen's first term – began to slow. 'There is exceptionally strong support for the true north of a 100% emissions reduction by 2050,' Hoekstra told Euractiv. At the same time, he acknowledged it was 'a very fair ask of many member states' to ensure climate policies are more tightly linked to competitiveness than before. Hoekstra also said the many conversations he has had with European leaders and MEPs in recent months had convinced him there was still "overwhelming support" for "ambitious climate goals." One outcome of this shuttle diplomacy, he said, was a recognition that the target would only be politically viable if governments were granted some flexibility, notably, the option to outsource part of their climate action to the developing world. Open to carbon credits Hoekstra said he has always been 'intellectually open' to the idea of using carbon credits – a concept codified at the UN level at last year's COP29 conference in Baku – to monetise climate action in the developing world. 'We know how not to do it,' he said, acknowledging that past offsetting schemes had been marred by accusations of greenwashing. It would only work if the system is 'credible, verifiable and additional,' he added. 'Humanity has pulled off, even in the way of climate action, way more complication things that planting trees, or CCS, or renewables at scale,' Hoekstra said. Planting trees and deploying renewables are widely accepted solutions, especially in Europe, which lacks domestic fossil fuel reserves. Yet carbon capture and storage (CCS) remains controversial – and politically dormant in Brussels until recently. Now, the oil and gas industry, long a backer of CCS, is required under EU law to jointly develop infrastructure - typically using depleted gas fields - capable of permanently storing 50 million tonnes of CO2 a year from 2030. The idea is that with nowhere to store it, no one will invest in carbon capture technology. But industry players now say the target is unfeasible, prompting speculation that the Commission might revisit the rules as part of its regulatory 'simplification' push. Failing that, it might have to take action against petroleum firms for missing the target. Clear on tech neutrality 'Let's not run into hypotheticals now,' Hoekstra said, insisting the Commission maintains 'a completely neutral view' on which technologies will ultimately prevail. 'We very much embrace renewables. We also embrace nuclear,' he said. 'We embrace CCS,' he added, citing a €180 million EU-backed carbon capture project he recently visited in Sweden. The EU's climate chief also rejected claims that the Commission's efforts to reduce red tape amount to deregulation or the dismantling of the Green Deal. 'We are in one of the largest transitions, certainly in the domain of energy, that humanity has ever gone through,' he said. 'We have a very clear true north, and we're also very clear on our overall approach.' 'But does it then make sense to be pragmatic and to be street smart on the how? I think it does.' Acknowledging the cost of transition Hoekstra also acknowledged the scale of investment and social costs tied to the planned energy transition – the EU's decarbonisation agenda he now describes as a combination of 'a climate strategy, competitiveness strategy, and an independence strategy'. 'Let's not make the mistake of confusing costs with investments,' he added, pointing to the €400 billion Europe would still spend annually to import oil and gas 'even if you kick out the Russians'. 'This only happens if [there is] the predictability that pension funds and other large investors are looking for,' he said. Hoekstra rejected the idea that amending recently adopted laws through a series of 'omnibus' proposals would undermine that very predictability. Citing the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) – the import tariff based on the carbon footprint of certain staple commodities – he noted that 90% of companies originally included had been removed from scope while it still captured 99% of emissions. 'Why did we include them in the first place?' Hoekstra asked. 'Couldn't it be true that our design was, maybe, good but not do you then choose?' 'Do you course keep running against the same wall all the time?' (de, jp)
Euronews
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Far-right Patriots for Europe lead negotiations on key climate file
The far-right Patriots for Europe group will lead negotiations on the EU's new climate target, MEPs and parliament officials told Euronews, a role that could derail the bloc's objective to reduce greenhouse emissions by 90% by 2040. 'The Patriots got the climate legislation file,' Iratxe Garcia, the leader of the socialist group told reporters during a press conference on the margins of the plenary in Strasbourg. 'They've got the rapporteurship… I mean it is the patriots who are going to be the lead negotiators.' Garcia referred to a recent Commission proposal to amend its EU Climate Law by setting a new target to reduce the EU's net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 90% by 2040. It is now up to the parliament and the council to discuss and adopt the text. Officials say giving the 2040 climate target file to the far-right Patriots for Europe in the Parliament's Environment, Public Health and Food Safety committee is the result of a complex system of attribution, which gives the large groups control over important files. The Patriots for Europe is the third largest group in the European Parliament and has 11 full fledged members in the ENVI committee, including from France's National Rally and Italy's Lega party. The group has systematically opposed the EU's climate policies, with National Rally leader Jordan Bardella calling for the immediate suspension of the EU's Green deal a few months ago. It will give the Patriots increasing influence over the EU's climate policy as rapporteurs are ultimately responsible for recommending a political line on the file. Though a rapporteur won't prevent other groups from reaching a deal on the text, he or she could slow down or complicate the legislative work. The Commission proposal is aimed at reaffirming the bloc's 'determination to tackle climate change' according to the Commission's website, and 'shape the path' to climate neutrality, an objective that is at the heart of the EU's green deal. The job represents a breach of the cordon sanitaire - the process through which centrist pro-European groups effectively club together to deny the right-wing fringe top jobs such as presidencies or vice-presidencies of the European Parliament's committees. The practice has historically excluded lawmakers from France's National Rally, Viktor Orbán's Fidesz and Matteo Salvini's Lega from power roles in the Parliament. Last October, Bardella and fellow Patriots' MEP Hungarian Kinga Gál filed a complaint to the European Court of Justice last week against their political groups' exclusion through the so-called 'cordon sanitaire' from leading positions at the European Parliament.
RTÉ News
02-07-2025
- Business
- RTÉ News
EU proposes a 90% cut in greenhouse gases by 2040
The European Commission has proposed a target of a 90% reduction in net greenhouse gases compared to 1990 levels by 2040. The target builds on the 2030 goals of a 55% reduction in carbon emissions, which the commission said the EU is "well on track" to meet. However, environmental organisations have criticised the new target because it assumes greater progress in carbon capture and storage, and introduces new flexibilities which would mean up to 3% of the target would be met by paying countries outside the EU - through so-called international carbon credits - to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The European Commission said the new goal, and the methodology involved, will provide certainty for investors, boost the EU's competitiveness and increase its energy security. Under the EU Climate Law, the commission is required to update the carbon emissions target from 2030 to 2040 in order to meet the overall goal of net emissions neutrality by 2050. However, the existing drive towards net zero has been eroded in recent years by a political backlash, particularly where right-wing and far right parties have gained ground. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has been accused of watering down key pieces of legislation, such as the European Green Deal. Last week, the commission withdrew legislation banning so-called greenwashing - the practice of companies asserting spurious or unfounded environmental credentials. However, it insists the new target reflects growing public alarm at the effects of global warming. The 2025 Climate Eurobarometer, released on Monday, showed that 85% of EU citizens consider climate change a serious problem, with 81% supporting the net neutrality target for 2050. In a statement, Ms von der Leyen said: "As European citizens increasingly feel the impact of climate change, they expect Europe to act. "Industry and investors look to us to set a predictable direction of travel. "Today we show that we stand firmly by our commitment to decarbonise the European economy by 2050." The EU chief added the "goal is clear" and the "journey is pragmatic and realistic". Under the proposal, there will be a "limited role" for "high quality" international carbon credits in the second half of the 2030s in order to meet the 90% reduction target by the end of the decade. The amendment will also allow for the permanent removal of carbon within the EU's Emissions Trading System to be taken into account. The commission said these flexibilities will be done in "a cost-effective way and ensure a just and socially fair transition for all". The new target, it said, goes hand in hand with the Clean Industrial Deal - which updates the Green Deal - as well as the so-called Competitive Compass and the Affordable Energy Action Plan. Greenpeace has criticised the plan on the basis that it falls short of the European Scientific Advisory Board's own recommendation of a target reduction of 90% - 95%. It also said the decarbonisation involved in the plan should be measured only on the basis of internal EU efforts, rather than relying on carbon reduction done by countries outside the EU. The organisation's EU climate campaigner said the bloc's 2040 climate targets "should drive a shift away from fossil fuels, starting with an EU ban on new fossil fuel projects, towards renewables and energy saving to cut people's energy bills, make their homes easier to heat and cool, and clean the air they breathe". But Thomas Gelin said that instead the commission "relies on dodgy accounting and offshore carbon laundering to pretend to hit the lower bound of what its climate scientists advise". "The EU, as a historical polluter, has the responsibility to cut its own pollution and ironically will make the necessary changes harder for European households and businesses by delaying even further," he added. Ireland's 2030 emissions reduction target is 42%. According to a recent projection by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), however, the State will only manage to cut emissions relative to 1990 levels by 23% - even if every climate policy planned by the Government is implemented on time. That is actually down from a 29% prediction last year, meaning Ireland's progress towards the legally binding EU target is going backwards. The EPA said the deterioration is due to significantly slower progress on many fronts, including onshore wind, offshore wind, electric vehicles, district heating and the use of biomethane.
