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The EU needs to make its upcoming climate and energy legislative package ‘Fit for 1.5°C’
(EurActiv, 28 Jun 2021) A post-COVID Europe must make far more effort when it comes to tackling climate change. Even with its recently enhanced target of at least 55% emissions reduction by 2030, the EU still fails to keep us safe from a climate catastrophe, argues Wendel Trio.
Wendel Trio is the director of Climate Action Network Europe, a coalition of environmental NGOs.
It demands recognition that the EU has recently increased its 2030 climate target and now aims to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55%, instead of 40%, by the end of the decade. This has been a step in the right direction, yet it is still not enough for the EU to comply with its commitment under the Paris Agreement and limit temperature rise to 1.5°C.
The fact is that we should and can do much more. As the European Commission is putting the final touches to the ‘Fit for 55’ legislative package, the time is right to look into how to overshoot the EU’s current climate target and pave the way towards reaching climate neutrality in 2040.
With the current pledges from the EU and other major emitters, the world is still heading towards a global temperature rise of at least 2.5°C by the end of this century. It has been estimated that such a dramatic temperature increase trajectory will cause 8.0% GDP loss in Europe already by 2050.
As a rich economy, as well as a major historic emitter, we should therefore strive for emission reductions of at least 65% by 2030. Only such a substantial cut will represent the EU’s fair contribution to achieving the Paris Agreement goal. For this to happen, we need to make the Commission’s legislative package ‘Fit for 1.5°C’.
EurActiv, 28 Jun 2021: The EU needs to make its upcoming climate and energy legislative package ‘Fit for 1.5°C’
