The European Commission’s ambitious carbon reduction target is still far from the end of its 2040 goal, but it still needs to be done so by 2030
At face value, it’s an ambitious target for transforming the European Union’s energy system. The devil is always in the details. And the proposed plan is already garnering a range of strong reactions.
The proposal still needs to be issued, but it already faces opposition because of how risky it is to stop pollution in the first place. The omission of strategy to phase out oil and gas in the draft is criticized by environmental groups.
The world actually came tantalizingly close to a deal to phase out fossil fuels during a United Nations climate conference in Dubai last December. Despite dozens of countries pushing for that kind of commitment, the agreement ultimately calls for “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner.” It also carves out room for controversial technologies for capturing carbon dioxide pollution.
To meet the EU’s 90 percent cut in emissions by 2040, around 8 percent could be achieved with carbon capture and removal, bringing the real-world reduction target down to 81 percent. It means working with technology that is still in its infancy to store and suck up CO2.
She says the plan is encouraging in a few words. I mean, the fact that they’re setting targets at all is important.”
There is still time for the change to take place in June. Post election, a new Commission could put forward a revised proposal that would then need to be approved by the European Parliament and European Council. Farmers protests against climate measures were reflected in the weaker recommendation that was made today.
The target was revealed in a ‘communication’ report on 6 February. The communication is still not legally binding, but it will form the basis of legislation for the EU to be beyond its current targets.
Rogelj is pleased that the communication explicitly separates out emissions reductions from carbon removal — meaning member states can’t just rely on removing carbon, they must also reduce emissions in parallel. He says that expecting that carbon dioxide will be removed comes with a risk of obscating what actually needs to happen.
Although the commission’s 2040 target provides a more detailed plan towards achieving net zero — meaning greenhouse-gas emissions are zero or completely balanced by removal mechanisms — it will be important to ensure that it doesn’t detract from efforts to meet the 2030 goals, says Klein. Klein says a political shift to the right in many EU nations makes it less likely that the bloc will meet the existing goal of meeting the 2030 targets.
The governments in the Netherlands are likely to be lead by parties that don’t believe in climate change or who don’t think climate policy is important.
Reducing carbon emissions is important, but there needs to be more focus on adapting to future impacts of climate change, such as building flood barriers. Climate change can be mitigated without more ambitious finance for adapting to the impacts it is already having, according to climate-policy researcher Minny Allan Mikaelsson.