Latest news with #EuropeanClimateLaw
The Star
04-07-2025
- Business
- The Star
Finland unveils forest growth plan to meet climate goals
HELSINKI, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Finland has unveiled a wide-ranging plan to boost forest growth and restore the carbon sink capacity of its woodlands, in a bid to meet national climate targets and strengthen long-term forest resilience, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said on Friday. The initiative, part of the government's broader climate strategy, includes legislative reforms, new financial incentives, and targeted support for forest owners. It was developed in consultation with researchers and forestry stakeholders and aligns with the country's National Forest Strategy and Climate Act. "The goal is to promote forest health, growth and carbon sequestration, while also preparing for climate-related risks such as increased forest damage," the ministry said in a statement. Under the plan, the government will revise forest legislation to support faster regeneration and the preservation of forest cover. A working group has been established to draft amendments to the Forest Act and associated decrees. Additional funding will be directed to Metka, the national forestry incentive scheme, to expand ash fertilization of peatlands. The treated area is expected to grow from around 11,000 to 40,000 hectares annually, enhancing forest productivity for up to 30 years with a single application. A new support scheme, to be introduced between 2025 and 2027, will encourage afforestation of abandoned farmland, disused peat production sites, and low-yield peat soils. The package also includes measures to improve forest damage prevention and monitoring. Training will be expanded for landowners and forestry professionals to increase awareness of climate risks, forest breeding techniques, and sustainable management practices. More details on the project themes and timeline are expected in August, the ministry said. Finland is legally committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2035 under its Climate Act. The country also endorses the European Commission's proposal to cut the European Union's net greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent from 1990 levels by 2040, under a planned amendment to the European Climate Law.
Euractiv
04-07-2025
- Business
- Euractiv
Europe's economic suicide pact
For centuries Japan's samurai relied on a practice called seppuku – suicide by disembowelment – as a remedy for failure. Europe's virtue-signalling ritual has a more prosaic (if equally lethal) name: Regulation (EU) 2021/1119, also known as the European Climate Law. Under the law, which was passed in 2021, the EU agreed to achieve climate neutrality by 2055. With that goal looking increasingly shaky, the Commission proposed a 2040 target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2040. 'We took the time to think strategically about how we make this a success for Europe,' climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said on Wednesday as he presented the bill. Unless the commissioner considers accelerating Europe's deindustrialisation a 'success,' he could not be more mistaken. The Commission's attempt to mandate more drastic cuts to emissions at a time when the region's economy has come to a virtual standstill is nothing less than seppuku by another name. Fortunately, Europe's more sober capitals – Rome, Prague and Paris, among them – are pushing back on the Commission's 2040 plan. The big question is what path Germany's centre-right led coalition, which is under intense pressure from the country's Green lobby, will pursue. Germany, which accounts for about one quarter of the EU's output, has been stagnant for the better part of five years. In the broader eurozone, the picture isn't much better, with real growth near zero for more than two years, the weakest in decades. With the prospect of an even deeper slowdown amid a possible trade war with the U.S., there could hardly be a worse time to tighten the shackles on European industry. Few European countries have the fiscal space to cope with the burden of steeper cuts to emissions. Of the eurozone's 20 members, 11 are currently in violation of the bloc's deficit rules, led by Romania with an eye-popping 9.3% budget deficit. The government's attempts to rein in spending have already sparked unrest . While manufacturing in Europe has declined by about 4% since 2015, the drop has been particularly pronounced in the region's industrial core, Germany, where industrial production has contracted by nearly 10% as the pillars of the country's economy – chemicals and autos – have begun to crack. The crisis in Germany should serve as a warning to the rest of the bloc. Like the Commission, Germany's political establishment argued for years that its ambitious climate policy (known in Germany as the Energiewende, or energy transformation) would serve as a model for the rest of the world. Instead, Germany – which has seen heavy industry turn away from the country due in part to high energy costs – serves as an example of a failed climate policy. Though German emissions have fallen considerably, that 'progress' has resulted in the erosion of its industrial base. No one is denying the climate crisis. Yet a go-it-alone strategy won't save the planet. It will only destroy what remains of the European economy and the unprecedented prosperity the continent has enjoyed in recent decades. The samurai also had a word for that: kaishaku, the beheading. May Europe's cooler heads prevail.
Euronews
02-06-2025
- Business
- Euronews
Top scientists slam EU plan to allow carbon credits in 2040 goal
The EU's top scientific advisors are urging the bloc not to use international carbon credits to meet its climate targets. In an unprecedented intervention, the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change (ESABCC) has today issued a report rebuking Brussels' expected plan to weaken its 2040 goal. The experts say the bloc must stay the course on cutting domestic greenhouse gas emissions by 90-95 per cent below 1990 levels by 2040, following suggestions last week that it would settle for something less ambitious. 'A 90-95 per cent domestic reduction target for 2040 is both achievable and in Europe's own strategic interest. We need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, and the necessary technologies are largely available,' says Prof. Jette Bredahl Jacobsen, vice-Chair of the Advisory Board. Domestic is the operative word; outsourcing our emissions cutting to other countries via carbon credits would be a misguided approach on several levels, the scientists and climate campaigners have emphasised. The EU has pledged to be climate neutral by 2050, and is almost on track to reduce emissions by 55 per cent by 2030. But its interim target for 2040 is yet to be legally fixed. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, alongside climate chiefs Wopke Hoekstra and Teresa Ribera, had previously indicated that the EU would aim to cut its emissions by 90 per cent by 2040. That is at the lower end of what ESABCC recommended in 2023. But after pushback from some governments, Hoekstra has delayed the revision of the European Climate Law until around 2 July. He is reportedly considering ways to make the 2040 goal more flexible, including the use of carbon credits. Under a UN-backed framework agreed at the climate summit COP29 last year, carbon credits enable one country to pay for emissions-cutting projects in another nation, and count the saved CO2 towards its own progress. Supporters claim these transactions are more cost-effective than domestic action and can help poorer countries get funding for climate action. Critics, including scientists on the advisory board, argue that the credits risk diverting resources from domestic investments and could undermine environmental integrity. 'Delaying action or relying on international carbon credits would risk missing vital opportunities to modernise the EU's economy, create quality jobs, and reinforce Europe's position in clean tech leadership,' Bredahl Jacobsen says. The ESABCC - which is an independent body legally tasked with making climate policy recommendations - has never commented on an ongoing political debate in this manner before. Its 60-page report points to research showing that, 'just 16 per cent of credits issued under various carbon crediting programmes to date have delivered genuine emission reductions.' Green NGOs are glad to see the board taking a stand. International offsets are 'a waste of taxpayers' money,' according to Michael Sicaud-Clyet, Climate Governance Policy Officer at WWF EU. 'Why should we pay other countries when we could be investing it in making our own industries more competitive? It's like sending someone else to school and expecting to receive the degree and results yourself.' International carbon credits aren't necessary, the report stresses. A net domestic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the range of 90 to 95 per cent is both scientifically feasible and increases the fairness of the EU's contribution to global mitigation. Alongside mitigation, the advisory board is calling for stronger EU action on adaptation to protect citizens from increasing climate risks. Rising greenhouse gas emissions have already driven global temperatures up by 1.3-1.4 °C, fuelling extreme climate events in Europe and around the world. Yet, the authors say, the EU's current adaptation policy lacks measurable goals and a robust legal foundation. 'The risks from climate change are growing, and so is the gap between what's needed and what's in place,' says Prof Laura Diaz Anadon, vice-Chair of the Advisory Board. 'The EU should clarify its vision for climate resilience, and back it with governance, legal tools, and measurable targets. Without a stronger adaptation policy framework, Europe risks falling behind the pace of impacts from climate change.' More than 40 per cent of Europe is currently facing some form of drought, the latest official update reveals. Pockets of south-eastern Spain, Cyprus, Greece, and areas across the south-eastern Balkans are under the highest form of 'alert' according to the European Drought Observatory (EDO)'s report for 11-20 May. But a drought 'warning' is also in place across large swathes of northern and eastern Europe, following a record-breaking hot and dry spring, driven by climate change. March was Europe's warmest on record, and some countries saw their driest March, Europe's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) previously reported. In total, 1.6 per cent of the 27 EU countries (excluding Madeira, Azores, and Canary Islands) plus the UK is in alert conditions. As per the EDO's classification, this means that vegetation is showing signs of stress, as well as the soil lacking moisture - which places an area under a warning - and less than normal rainfall. The situation is particularly acute in some Mediterranean areas favoured by holidaymakers, such as the Greek islands of Santorini and Mykonos. Here, water is having to be shipped in from Athens or filtered by desalination plants to fill swimming pools and showers. Overtourism is being blamed for exacerbating the issue. "The tourist sector is unsustainable and there is no planning,' Nikitas Mylopoulos, professor of water resource management at Thessaly University, told the UK's Sky News. '[This is] leading to a tremendous rise in water demand in summer.' However, he added, agriculture is a far bigger drain on the country's water resources, amplified by waste and a lack of effective policies. Alert conditions are rapidly emerging in large areas of Ukraine and neighbouring countries, impacting crops and vegetation, EDO warns. Ukraine is one of Europe's fastest-heating countries, hitting 2.7°C above the 1951-1980 average in 2023. As a major exporter of grain, drought here has serious ramifications for global food supplies. Parts of Poland and Slovakia are suffering from the dry spell, too. Alert conditions also persist in western, south-eastern and central Türkiye, northern and western Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, parts of Jordan, northern Iraq, Iran and Azerbaijan. In northern Africa, alert and warning conditions have clung on for more than a year. According to the EDO's Combined Drought Indicator (CDI), 39.6 per cent of the EU-27 and the UK have a drought warning. This orange patch on the map stretches from Ireland to the northern slopes of the Alps, across to Finland, southern Russia and Türkiye. During the 10-day period from 11 to 20 May, temperatures have been above the seasonal average in northern Europe. As well as the agricultural impacts, there are concerns for hydropower. The International Hydropower Association has said that drought and intense rain - an example of 'climate whiplash' - are pushing power plants to "operate at the limits of their existing equipment". Global warming is exacerbating drought in some parts of the world, including around the Mediterranean. Scientists at the World Weather Attribution found that the widespread drought of 2022, for example, was made 20 times more likely by climate change. It will take time to do a similar study for spring 2025, but there is no doubt that climate change is making droughts worse by increasing temperatures and changing 'precipitation regimes', in the words of Andrea Toreti, coordinator of the Copernicus European and Global Drought Observatories. Regions that would usually have a chance to recover or balance a lack of water in warmer seasons and prepare for summer cannot depend on rainfall in the same way, Toreti previously told Euronews Green. 'Nowadays, this sort of equilibrium has been modified.'
Miami Herald
28-05-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
EU says it is on track to meet main 2030 climate and energy goals
May 28 (UPI) -- The European Union said Wednesday that the 27-country bloc made significant progress in the past 18 months toward a target to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 and boost the share of energy produced by renewables to at least 42.5%. An audit of the implementation of National Energy and Climate Plans mandated by European Climate Law showed most member states had 'substantially' shown improvement, particularly following new recommendations in December 2023, the European Commission said in a news release. 'The commission's assessment shows that the EU is currently on course to reduce net GHG emissions by around 54% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels, if member states implement fully existing and planned national measures and EU policies,' the commission said. The estimate for the proportion of energy that will come from renewables was 41%. 'In the current geopolitical context, this demonstrates that the EU is staying the course on its climate commitments, investing with determination in the clean energy transition and prioritizing the EU's industrial competitiveness and the social dimension,' the statement added. The findings from updated plans submitted by 23 of the 27 member states, as of the middle of last month, mark a turnaround for Brussels, which had been warning that the last set of plans from 2023 indicated 2030 climate and energy goals were in danger of slipping. 'When we play our cards and instruments in a smart manner, we deliver as a continent,' said EU competition and climate chief, Teresa Ribera of Spain. But she warned the bloc must continue to press forward because with climate disasters becoming more frequent unpreparedness 'imposes more cost to our economy and creates more social harm.' Belgium, Poland and Estonia, which have yet to submit their final NECPs, almost a year away from the June 30 deadline, 'must do so without delay,' warned the European Commission, which said it was in the process of reviewing Slovakia's submission received last month. The commission acknowledged issues with other goals in the 2030 targets on carbon absorption and energy efficiency with the bloc failing to establish sufficient forests and other areas that act as carbon sinks to absorb the required 310 millions tons of CO2 a year. Member states were also forecast to miss a target to reduce energy consumption by 11.7% by boosting efficiency with current projections showing usage set to come down by just 8.1%. The European Commission said the next phase would focus on channeling public funds into 'transformative' investments, fostering private investment and coordinating the effort on a EU level but also regionally to meet the goals. The projected cost to achieve all the targets is an eye-watering $644.5 billion, although the commission said that number had to be weighed against the $486 billion EU nations paid for imported fossil fuels in 2023. However, the whole enterprise pivots on member states remaining committed amid mounting public dissatisfaction with the associated disruption and expense amid a cost of living crisis and a growing squeeze on government budgets, particularly from pressure to up the proportion of national income spent on defense. U.S. President Donald Trump has continued an effort begun in his first 2017-2021 term to pressure NATO's European members -- most of which still spend less than 2.5% of GDP on defense -- to pick up more of the tab by raising that figure to 5%. Copyright 2025 UPI News Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
EU says it is on track to meet main 2030 climate and energy goals
May 28 (UPI) -- The European Union said Wednesday that the 27-country bloc made significant progress in the past 18 months toward a target to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 and boost the share of energy produced by renewables to at least 42.5%. An audit of the implementation of National Energy and Climate Plans mandated by European Climate Law showed most member states had "substantially" shown improvement, particularly following new recommendations in December 2023, the European Commission said in a news release. "The commission's assessment shows that the EU is currently on course to reduce net GHG emissions by around 54% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels, if member states implement fully existing and planned national measures and EU policies," the commission said. The estimate for the proportion of energy that will come from renewables was 41%. "In the current geopolitical context, this demonstrates that the EU is staying the course on its climate commitments, investing with determination in the clean energy transition and prioritizing the EU's industrial competitiveness and the social dimension," the statement added. The findings from updated plans submitted by 23 of the 27 member states, as of the middle of last month, mark a turnaround for Brussels, which had been warning that the last set of plans from 2023 indicated 2030 climate and energy goals were in danger of slipping. "When we play our cards and instruments in a smart manner, we deliver as a continent," said EU competition and climate chief, Teresa Ribera of Spain. But she warned the bloc must continue to press forward because with climate disasters becoming more frequent unpreparedness "imposes more cost to our economy and creates more social harm." Belgium, Poland and Estonia, which have yet to submit their final NECPs, almost a year away from the June 30 deadline, "must do so without delay," warned the European Commission, which said it was in the process of reviewing Slovakia's submission received last month. The commission acknowledged issues with other goals in the 2030 targets on carbon absorption and energy efficiency with the bloc failing to establish sufficient forests and other areas that act as carbon sinks to absorb the required 310 millions tons of CO2 a year. Member states were also forecast to miss a target to reduce energy consumption by 11.7% by boosting efficiency with current projections showing usage set to come down by just 8.1%. The European Commission said the next phase would focus on channeling public funds into "transformative" investments, fostering private investment and coordinating the effort on a EU level but also regionally to meet the goals. The projected cost to achieve all the targets is an eye-watering $644.5 billion, although the commission said that number had to be weighed against the $486 billion EU nations paid for imported fossil fuels in 2023. However, the whole enterprise pivots on member states remaining committed amid mounting public dissatisfaction with the associated disruption and expense amid a cost of living crisis and a growing squeeze on government budgets, particularly from pressure to up the proportion of national income spent on defense. U.S. President Donald Trump has continued an effort begun in his first 2017-2021 term to pressure NATO's European members -- most of which still spend less than 2.5% of GDP on defense -- to pick up more of the tab by raising that figure to 5%.
