The EU aims to “give humanity a chance to fight” with a climate plan drawn up by Reuters

By Kate Abnett

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -European Union leaders on Wednesday unveiled their most ambitious plan to tackle climate change so far, aiming to turn the green goal into concrete action in this decade, paving the way for other major world economies.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, specified in detail how the 27 countries in the bloc can meet their collective target of a 55% reduction in net greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels to 2030 – a step towards “zero net” emissions by 2050.

This means increasing the cost of carbon emissions for heating, transport and manufacturing, taxing high-carbon aircraft fuel and previously untaxed shipping fuels, and charging importers at the border the carbon emitted when making products like cement, steel. and aluminum abroad. The internal combustion engine will focus on history.

“We will ask a lot of citizens. We will also ask a lot of our industry, but we do it for a good reason,” said EU climate policy chief Frans Timmermans.

“We do it to give humanity a chance to fight.”

The “55 adaptation” measures will have to be approved by the Member States and the European Parliament, a process that could take two years.

It is also likely that some industrial sectors, on the part of the poorest European countries, will face a strong lobby against the most polluting countries that want to protect their citizens from price increases and undergo an expensive transition.

A diplomat from an EU country said the success of the package would be based on its ability to be realistic and socially correct, while not destabilizing the economy.

“The goal is to put the economy on a new level, not stop it,” the diplomat said.

EYES IN GLASGOW

The EU generates only 8% of global emissions, but expects its model to generate ambitious action by other major world economies when they hold a meeting of the next UN climate conference in Glasgow in November.

“Europe was the first continent to declare a neutral climate in 2050, and now we are the first to put a concrete page on the table,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

The package endured one of the highest temperatures recorded on Earth in California and reaches a few days, the most recent of the wild heat waves that hit Russia, northern Europe and Canada.

As climate change shifts from typhoon-irrigated tropics to dryland scrub in Australia, Brussels has proposed a dozen policies to target the largest sources of fossil fuel emissions, such as power plants, factories, cars, planes and heating systems. in buildings.

The EU has so far reduced emissions by 24% since 1990 levels, but many significant steps, such as reducing energy dependence on coal, have been taken.

Further adjustments will need to be made over the next decade, looking to the long term by 2050. Scientists say the world needs to achieve zero carbon emissions to prevent climate change from happening.

The measures follow a basic principle: to make polluting options more expensive and green more attractive to 25 million EU businesses and almost half a billion people.

AIRCRAFT, BOATS AND CARS

Tighter car emissions limits, in fact, will put an end to sales of new petrol and diesel cars in the EU by 2035, one of the oldest dates claimed.

A review of the European Union’s Emissions Trading System will force the world’s largest carbon market, factories, power plants and airlines to pay more when they emit more CO2. Boats will also be added to the ETS, and ship owners will have to pay for pollution for the first time.

A new EU carbon market will impose CO2 costs on the transport and construction sectors – with some revenue set to reduce fuel bills for low-income families.

The Commission also unveiled the world’s first carbon cap tariff plan, which requires foreign manufacturers to pay for CO2 generated when they sell goods such as steel and cement to the EU.

In the meantime, a tax review will impose a EU-wide tax on aircraft fuel pollutants, which currently avoid such taxes.

EU member states will also need to build forests and grasslands – carbon sinks that keep carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

In some EU countries, the package provides an opportunity to consolidate leadership in the EU’s fight against climate change and to be at the forefront of those who develop the necessary technologies.

Danish Climate and Energy Minister Dan Jorgensen has said he will tell the rest of the world that “it is possible to set ambitious targets and put in place the specific measures needed to reach them”.

But the plans have revealed well-known successes. The poorest Member States are wary of policies that will increase costs for the consumer, while regions dependent on coal-fired power plants and mines want guarantees to ensure more transformation aid that will lead to relocation and require massive recycling.