May 30, 2017
MEP’s voted today to increase the ambition of the EU’s most powerful climate law, the proposed Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR).
The environment committee voted for countries to reduce their emissions based on a more realistic starting point. The new starting point will be either the 2018 emission levels, or the 2020 national climate targets, whichever is lower.
While the ESR still fails to meet the aims of the Paris agreement, Transport & Environment (T&E), a leading European NGO, welcomed the European Parliament environment committee’s backing for a more ambitious starting point than the European Commission’s proposal and for closing some loopholes to ensure member states actually reduce their emissions. For example, a lower limit was set for the amount of forestry credits that could be used to offset emissions in the ESR sector.
Cristina Mestre, climate officer at T&E commented that the report adopted today was a step in the right direction. She emphasised how the report improved the Commission proposal and anticipated reductions in emissions is all sectors covered including transport. Among the benefits that Mestre anticipated to result from today’s vote were: cleaner air, greater innovation, lower energy bills and more livable cities.The overall improvement is expected to be 562Mt of CO2 emissions prevented by 2030.
The Effort Sharing Regulation, if designed properly, can be a great driver for decarbonising the economy and delivering on the Paris agreement. But the plenary of the European Parliament must remain strong and support this position in the discussions to come. Cristina Mestre
T&E particularly welcomed the limitation on ‘banking’ flexibility which will prevent unused emissions allocations from being carried over.
Covering about 60% of Europe’s total greenhouse gas emissions, the proposed Effort Sharing Regulation sets binding national emission reduction targets for the 2021 – 2030 period for sectors not covered by the emissions trading system such as transport, buildings, architecture and waste.
