Europe’s Climate Law paves the way for climate neutrality by 2050

The Climate Law proposed by the European Commission (EC) opens the way to “achieve climate neutrality by 2050” and constitutes the “only way to respect the Paris Agreement”, said the Deputy Director General for Climate Change of the EC, Clara de la Torre.

De la Torre has insisted that the new EC “studies increasing the reduction of greenhouse gases (GHG) between 50 and 55% by 2030” from the current 40%, to reach emission neutrality in 2050.

The Climate Law, he said, is an “important” measure because of its objective in itself and because it is “a key political signal of where we all have to go together” and towards “where we have to invest”.

De la Torre, who participated on Tuesday in the second session of the cycle ‘Climate change and energy transition in Latin America: Policies, laws and leadership to address the climate challenge in the new conjuncture’, also referred to the European Green Deal.

This European Green Deal, he said, “is not only the climate”, but also encompasses “industry, new business models, the environment, the circular economy, opening new markets in the world with European products and technologies that lead us all to a better life”.

According to De la Torre, “it is not a burden, but a business opportunity and to live better”, as well as “exporting a series of principles very anchored in European society such as well-being or security”, among others.

He has stated that “it seems that there is less talk about the climate crisis during these days for a reason, unfortunately, not very good, but the pandemic caused by COVID-19 will disappear in a short time and the climate will not”.

In this sense, De la Torre has pointed out that “we have a very solid scientific basis that shows that if we continue like this we will carry the planet and we behind it”.

The counselor of the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) and member of the Ibero-American Association of energy regulatory entities (ARIAE), Mariano Bacigalupo, explained that “Ibero-America is the most renewable region on the planet, not only for its current energy mix, but for the potentialities of its renewable natural resources and for its future possibilities”.

However, “the negative effects of climate change also affect him because developing countries are less prepared to face its consequences,” Said Bacigalupo.

In addition, according to Bacigalupo, the Ibero-American region presents “very pronounced problems of pollution at the local level”, especially “those derived from the intensity of road traffic in large cities and air conditioning in cities in general”.

Therefore, actions against climate change in this region “will simultaneously have very positive consequences for the air quality of cities and for people’s health.”

Thus, the economic development of Ibero-America “requires a growing installation of new electrical power capacity and greater fuel consumption must be made compatible with maximum environmental protection, giving preference to renewable energy sources and greater efficiency in energy consumption,” concluded Bacigalupo.

Source: The Vanguard