The new European Commission is working towards setting up the first EU-wide climate law. It would make reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 a legally binding target. As part of this law, Europe would have to halve its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
The plan for the climate law is part of the Green New Deal, which is to be executed under a set of proposals that are currently being discussed by the European Commission. The new president of the commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has pledged to present the proposals within 100 days of December 1, the day she took office. The Green New Deal is focused on the environment and climate change and is the centerpiece of the new commission’s action plan.
A couple of key goals in the deal are to move towards zero transport emissions and to radically reform the standard agricultural policy, which at the moment is drastically damaging the natural environment. This means that cars would be subject to strict air pollution standards and 75% of road transport would have to transition to rail or inland waterways. Furthermore, the cost of everything would be changed based on carbon output – meaning the modes of transport that produce the most emissions would be the most expensive.
Funding for clean technologies was also mentioned. Although, The Guardian reports that the five-page draft of a plan is “still vague, missing or hedged with question marks, and many have no firm target date attached.” Green campaigners agree that the draft is not good enough. They criticize how countries have only been stalling as scientific warnings grow clearer. In the end, nobody is any closer to meeting the goals set in the Paris Agreement.
The director of Climate Action Network, Wendel Trio, says that the emissions reduction target should be 65% by 2030, not 50%.
He said:
The commission’s reluctance to propose a new, much higher target early next year shows its failure to recognize the urgency of the climate crisis. Delaying this decision could put the EU in the back seat of global climate negotiations and undermine its role in shaping the discussions on the increase of the targets next year. It would be a blow to [the] millions of Europeans who take to the streets demanding immediate action to tackle the climate crisis.
The plan calls for the goals to begin their course of action as of October 2020, but this only prolongs what needs to start happening NOW… which needed to start happening years ago!
Franziska Achterberg of Greenpeace, also says the plan fails to measure up to the scale of change necessary. She said:
This is a vast policy program that marks a shift away from the Juncker commission’s deregulation agenda. But you just have to look beyond the top lines to see that the proposed measures are either too weak, half-baked or missing altogether. Responding to the climate and ecological crises requires a fundamental rethink of the economic system that for decades has rewarded pollution, environmental destruction, and human exploitation. This plan barely scratches the surface.
Recently, the European parliament declared a state of Climate Emergency. If this declaration is not backed up by swift, forceful, and severe action, then it is entirely meaningless.
