The European Commission presents its roadmap to decarbonise the EU by 2050

The European Commission presented on Wednesday its legislative roadmap to put the European Union (EU) on the path to say goodbye to _CO2 by mid-century and turn the climate crisis into an opportunity to grow more sustainably.

“_Co2 emission must have a price,” said the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, at the presentation of thirteen legislative initiatives with concrete actions in transport, energy, the carbon emissions market or biodiversity.

The regulatory package is called “Fit For 55”, in reference to the EU’s commitment to reduce its CO equivalent emissions by 2030₂ at least 55 % compared to 1990 as an intermediate step towards achieving climate neutrality by 2050: that is, not releasing more carbon dioxide than the Community territory can absorb.

It represents much of the legal architecture of the energy and climate transformation in which the EU has been immersed since the Paris Agreement of 2015 so that temperatures at the end of the century rise less than 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels.

Proposals will have to be negotiated with the Member States, represented in the Council, and with the European Parliament.

The Commission warns that it will be a deep and hard transition with major structural changes in a very short time but that, linked to the other great vector of the future that Brussels explores, digitalisation, it will generate more and better opportunities for the EU, which in parallel begins to distribute recovery funds inspired by the same principles.

“Otherwise, we will fail our children and our grandchildren because if we don’t fix this, in my opinion, they will fight wars over water and food,” said European Commission Vice-President for the Green Deal Frans Timmermans.

In addition, the EU’s journey towards renewables as the main sources of generation will progressively reduce its strategic dependence, as it currently imports 60.7% of its energy, essentially fossil fuels.

PRICE TO _CO2

The broad legislative package largely consists of revisions or updates of existing rules that are interconnected and represent an effort that the Commission understands must cover all sectors and areas of society.

But there is a driving philosophy, which is to stop releasing carbon dioxide, and one of the pillars is the revision by 2025 of the European market where a price per ton of CO is put₂ issued, the so-called ETS emissions trading system, which covers some 10,000 energy-intensive plants in the EU.

Brussels wants the price of _CO2 to become progressively more expensive and eliminate emission permits in ten years, keep domestic aviation within the system and include ships.

It also plans for the ETS to cover transportation and the energy consumed by households. But a possible generalized increase in the price of the heating bill generates concern, after the wave of protests of the “yellow vests” in France from a climate tax on diesel perceived as harmful to the most humble.

For this reason, the Commission proposes that the ETS system itself generate a fund with 70,000 million euros in ten years to help humble households, which spend a greater proportion of their income on heating.

The objective of the ETS is to encourage energy and fuel producers to move towards sustainable technologies instead of paying more and more to generate _CO2.

Brussels also proposes a new mechanism to tax at the BORDERS of the EU certain products whose manufacture generates more CO2 than allowed within and a reform of energy taxation.

TRANSPORT

Another major thrust of the proposal is the transport sector, which is responsible for a quarter of the EU’s emissions.

The Commission proposes to progressively raise the environmental requirement for cars and vans so that by 2035 only non-polluting engines are sold. It also wants to encourage the massive deployment of charging points to give a definitive boost to the electric vehicle, which currently represents 10% of sales.

According to the proposal, commercial aviation will have to progressively mix biofuels with kerosene, a fuel that will have a new tax, and all ships that dock in COMMUNITY ports will have to use less polluting fuels.

RENEWABLES AND EFFICIENCY

From the current target of 32% renewable energy in the EU’s gross final consumption, by 2030 it will be raised to 40%. It will also be a legally binding target for countries. Buildings, responsible for 40% of energy consumption and 36% of EU _CO2 emissions, will have to reach 49% renewable energy by 2030.

Source: Euro EFE