The Council of the EU adopts the law to achieve climate neutrality in 2050

The Council of the European Union (EU), which brings together the Member States, adopted the law with which the community club commits to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, that is, not to release more greenhouse gases than it can absorb, and to reduce its net CO2 emissions by at least 55% in 2030 compared to 1990.

The other co-legislator of the EU, the European Parliament, already gave the green light to the legislation last week, so it can proceed to its signature and publication in the official gazette of the European Union.

The law will come into force 20 days after its appearance in the bulletin.

The text, approved on Monday (28/6/2021) by the Council of the EU, does not set binding targets per country, but the EU assumes that reduction of at least 55% by 2030 collectively, a toll to achieve the approval of eastern coal countries such as Poland, Hungary or Slovakia.

The achievement of this legal commitment, which serves as the foundation for the European Green Deal, must now be articulated through some 50 legislative revisions ranging from the CO2 emissions market to the promotion of electric vehicles, green taxation or the development of technologies such as clean hydrogen and new more sustainable materials.

The European Commission plans to present on July 14 a legislative package with proposals to achieve that 55% reduction in the next decade, a percentage higher than the 40% established so far.

The legal text also introduces the obligation to set an intermediate target in 2040.

The Commission will publish the estimated maximum amount of greenhouse gas emissions that the Twenty-Seven can produce between 2030 and 2050 without jeopardising the EU’s commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement.

That pact, signed in 2015, aims to limit the increase in the global average temperature at the end of the century below 2 degrees Celsius with respect to pre-industrial levels, with the recommendation not to exceed 1.5 degrees.

By 30 September 2023, and every five years thereafter, the Commission shall assess the collective progress of all Member States, as well as the coherence of national measures, towards achieving climate neutrality by 2050.

A European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change will also be established to provide independent scientific advice and report on EU action, climate targets, indicative greenhouse gas budgets and consistency with European climate legislation and the Union’s international commitments under the Paris Agreement.

Source: EuroEFE