NGOs attack plans to include carbon offsets into EU climate goals

(EurActiv, 1 Oct 2020) Environmental campaigners have condemned proposals to include carbon credits from projects in developing countries when the European Parliament votes on the EU’s proposed climate law next week.

The Parliament will hold a plenary vote next Tuesday (6 October) on the draft European Climate Law, which seeks to enshrine into hard legislation the EU’s goal of reaching “climate neutrality” by 2050.

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, tabled a proposal on 16 September to reduce the bloc’s emissions by 55% by 2030 – an objective that will now be inserted into the draft climate law so that it can be made a legally-binding obligation on the 27 EU member states.

But campaigners have raised the alarm about proposals mooted in the European Parliament to also include international carbon offsets in the EU’s climate goals.

“The Commission shall set out how the use of international market mechanisms can contribute to the cost-effective achievement of the objectives,” says an amendment to the draft climate law, tabled by the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), the largest political group in the European Parliament.

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EurActiv, 1 Oct 2020: NGOs attack plans to include carbon offsets into EU climate goals