The European Union (EU), a political and economic union of 27 member states, plans to rebuild its entire economy with more than a dozen green laws to enact stricter climate goals this decade.
A legislative package, which is set to be unveiled in June, will reinforce carbon pricing mechanisms, support energy savings, increase the production of renewable energy, boost sustainable transport and curb imports of products that drive deforestation, said Frans Timmermans, a high level official in the EU climate effort.
The goal is to ensure that the 27-nation bloc meets a tighter target to reduce greenhouse gases by at least 55 percent by 2030, compared with 1990 levels.
The “package will arguably be the most comprehensive legislative framework in the world addressing climate,” Mr. Timmermans said. “We need to gather all possible forces in the fight against climate change, abroad and at home.”
Mr. Timmermans’ words offer the most comprehensive preview of the planned legislation so far. His comments come two days before the US President Joe Biden’s virtual summit of global leaders will convene to spur more ambition in the fight against global warming before the next round of United Nations climate talks in Glasgow in November.
Europe, which aims to be the world’s first continent to reach climate neutrality by 2050, already adopted in December a more ambitious commitment to cut greenhouse gases by 55 percent by the end of this decade under the Paris Agreement. The union is now finalizing talks to embed that goal into a binding law before proposing the set of legislation in June.
Key measures
According to Mr. Timmermans, some key points of the legislative package include strengthening and expanding the EU carbon market and setting more ambitious national targets in various sectors. restoring European forests, increasing renewable energy and energy efficiency targets and tougher CO2 standards for cars.
The Union also plans further deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure, higher taxation on most polluting fuels, measures to impose a carbon price on some imported goods and curtailing the import of products that drive deforestation or forest degradation around the world.
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