Brussels gives itself a year to review climate and energy regulations

The European Commission wants the EU’s _CO2 emissions reduction target by 2030 to go from the current 40% to 55%, EU Executive President Ursula Von der Layen announced on Wednesday during her State of the EU address. To this end, it will review the European regulations on climate and energy within a year, and will allocate 37% of the 750,000 million of the Recovery Plan against the pandemic -Next Generation EU- to meet the environmental objectives of the 27.

The increase in climate ambition proposed by Von der Layen, as pointed out by elEconomista, already has the explicit support of 170 top-level business leaders and this Wednesday obtained the support of the Spanish Government: “the European Commission has clearly understood that the only option to get out of the current crisis caused by Covid-19 is to launch a green recovery, that responds to the climate crisis, putting people at the center and taking care of the environment”, in the words of the fourth vice president of the Government, Teresa Ribera.

The president of the Commission announced that “by next summer” she will review the European climate and energy regulations, in order to “fit into 55”; concrete that it will change the co emissions trading₂, which will promote renewables and energy efficiency, which will update energy taxation – already in process – and which will strengthen the regulation on the distribution of effort among member states to achieve common objectives.

The _CO2 market will be reformed to include transport and other so-called diffuse sectors, such as building. In the first case, it will affect fuel, which could become more expensive around 0.06 euros per liter, considering a price per ton of _CO2 of 25 euros, slightly below the current one.

Requirements on direct emissions from cars will also be increased, beyond the Euro 6/VI standard, and one million charging points for electric vehicles will be installed.

Likewise, a regulatory proposal will be launched to design decarbonized and competitive gas markets – there will be “European hydrogen valleys to modernize industries, boost vehicles and bring new life to rural areas” – and another proposal on sustainable products.

In addition to delving into the rehabilitation of buildings, it will launch a “new European Bauhaus” in which architects, artists and students collaborate to incorporate a cultural perspective to increase the efficiency of cities.

225,000 million to ‘green bonds’

The president of the European Commission also announced that 30% of the 750,000 million of the Recovery Package -obtained with debt from the Community Budget-, will be achieved through the issuance of green bonds.

Von der Layen recalled that the EU is working on a European standard for this sustainable financial product, increasingly demanded by investors: it is estimated that it will grow more than 35% this 2020, to 300,000 million.

Source: The Economist