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EU’s Timmermans responds to Greta’s criticisms over European Climate Law

(EurActiv, 4 Mar 2020) The European Commission wants to look at all greenhouse gases responsible for global warming and not just carbon dioxide, European Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans said in response to criticism by teen activist Greta Thunberg.

“We work towards climate neutrality in 2050, which is not only about carbon, it’s also about other gases,” Timmermans said on Wednesday (4 March).

“So we just have a different approach,” the Dutchman told EURACTIV on the sidelines of the Commission’s official presentation of the European Climate Law.

Thunberg has scolded the Commission for failing to include a carbon budget in its proposed Climate Law which aims to enshrine Europe’s 2050 climate neutrality goal into hard legislation.

But according to Thunberg, the mid-century objective is set too far in the future and drastic action must be taken immediately in order to reduce emissions of planet-warming gases.

“We have a budget of less than 340 Gt of CO2 left to emit globally” in order to have a chance of staying below a 1.5C global average temperature rise, Thunberg wrote in an opinion piece co-authored with 34 young climate activists.

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EurActiv, 4 Mar 2020: EU’s Timmermans responds to Greta’s criticisms over European Climate Law