EU should agree remaining climate laws by summer, Sweden says

(EurActiv, 10 Jan 2023) The European Union aims to finish negotiations by July on laws to deliver its 2030 climate change target, although a contentious overhaul of fossil fuel taxes will likely take longer, Sweden’s ambassadors to the bloc said on Monday (9 January).

The 27-country EU is in the final stretch of negotiating roughly a dozen laws to fight global warming, and last year struck deals on most, including a 2035 ban on sales of new fossil fuel cars and a major overhaul of its carbon market.

Sweden, which now holds the EU’s rotating presidency and will chair negotiations among member countries until July, wants to finalise tougher targets for renewable energy and energy efficiency and minimum energy performance standards for buildings, as well as requirements for airlines to use more green fuel.

“We will try to make that complete, so that during the first part of this year, we can state that the ‘Fit for 55’ package has been brought to a successful end in terms of the legislative work,” Torbjörn Haak, Sweden’s deputy ambassador to the EU, told reporters in Brussels.

Haak said that for now Sweden was not anticipating new emergency proposals to cope with the fallout of Russia slashing its gas flows to Europe, after EU countries agreed emergency measures last year including a gas price cap and storage filling requirements.

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EurActiv, 10 Jan 2023: EU should agree remaining climate laws by summer, Sweden says