Tuesday 25 May 2021
Reducing carbon dioxide by 2030
European Union summit postpones climate protection decision
The European Union wants to be climate neutral by 2050. To achieve this, carbon dioxide emissions must be reduced further. However, the EU summit in Brussels offers little clarity on the topic. However, the participants consider the meeting a success.
The EU summit made no progress in implementing the stricter climate goal by 2030. In their joint declaration, only heads of state and government in Brussels agreed to tackle the issue again “in due course”. The European Union Commission must first submit specific proposals.
The passage originally intended on burden-sharing between Member States has been deleted from the Declaration. The Heads of State or Government reaffirmed their December decision on the Global Goals and requested the Commission to take into account environmental, economic and social impacts in its proposals.
In December, European Union countries raised the goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 from 40 to 55 per cent. The European Union Commission wants to present concrete legislative proposals for implementation in mid-July, which would eventually pave the way to the EU’s climate neutrality in 2050.
Member states should present their position on this at the summit. Eastern European countries in particular, which remain highly dependent on coal, are wary of cracking down. That’s right (Summit Declaration, Outgrow. Dr.. red.European Union Council President Charles Michel said, “It’s very short on this topic.” However, it is important that the debate on this topic was very constructive.
‘Have a guiding discussion today’
Commission Chairperson Ursula von der Leyen said her expectations from the summit were “fully realized” here. “I wanted to hear from Member States about their opinions, concerns and ideas on this big step forward.” It is also “a great success that no member state will question our objectives anymore.”
After the meeting, she appealed to von der Leyen to expand the European emissions trade to include the construction and transportation sector. In the evening, the Commission chief said, in these areas, more greenhouse gases should be provided. Therefore, your authority proposes to “introduce its own separate emissions trading system” – along with a social compensation structure.
“We had a directive discussion today,” said Chancellor Angela Merkel. No tangible results were expected. “But the intermediate step was important because everyone can once again express their national expectations for the package from the commission.”
Bulgaria and the Czech Republic have already made clear that they do not consider cutting emissions by 55 percent possible. So heads of state and government agreed in December that the 55 per cent target must be jointly achieved by 2030 – and other EU countries should do more.