Environmental NGOs ask for a green light for the plan for a carbon-free EU in 2050

The environmental organization WWF on Monday called on the leaders of the European Union to validate at the summit they will hold this week the roadmap of the European Commission (EC) for the EU to reach CO2 emissions neutrality by 2050, a roadmap that is also supported by platforms such as Greenpeace, Can or Transport & Environment.

Approving now that ambitious path presented by the EU Executive and parked at the European Council in March would send “a strong signal of the EU’s commitment to the Paris Agreement and its leadership” and would show the “good way” for the future president of the EC, WWF said about a plan that also supports platforms such as Greenpeace, Can or Transport & Environment.

Eu heads of state and government will meet next Thursday and Friday in Brussels for a summit that should serve, in addition to deciding on the distribution of senior positions in the next European Commission, to discuss the Union’s long-term climate strategy.

The European Commission presented last November its strategy against the long-term climate crisis, in which it proposed that the EU reduce its polluting emissions by 80% by 2050 and become a “carbon neutral” economy, in line with the Paris Climate Agreement.

“We can do it. And if we succeed, others will follow. If we don’t lead, no one else will. And if no one acts, unbridled climate change will severely affect Europe and the rest of the world,” European Commissioner for Energy and Climate Miguel Arias Cañete said at the time.

Energy transition in the EU

However, most Member States have been reluctant to support this roadmap, which advocates putting oil and coal in the past and focusing on a future of electricity with renewable sources and gas, although the initiative has been gaining support.

Last March, eight countries of the European Union whose population totals 172 million citizens (Belgium, Spain, France, Holland, Denmark, Luxembourg, Portugal, Sweden) demanded more ambition from the community bloc in an energy and economic transition that must be “fair and socially balanced for all”.

According to WWF, that group of countries would have increased to 16 of the 28 EU member states, with the approval of Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Slovenia, the United Kingdom and Germany, the latter country where environmental parties are going through a sweet political moment.

The NGO doubts Belgium, signatory of the initial declaration, because the result of legislative elections that that country held on May 26 do not allow us to glimpse what color the new Government will have and, consequently, what environmental path it will approve.

WWF places four eastern countries, notably Bulgaria and Poland, followed by Hungary and Romania, as the most reluctant to commit to carbon neutrality by 2050, while they see the possibility of joining Austria and Ireland and not blocking the consensus to Belgium, Croatia, Estonia, Lithuania and Slovakia.

Source: EFE Green