EREF applauds the Parliament’s vote to reduce emissions by 60% until 2030
Brussels, 7 September 2020
EREF would like to present its sincerest congratulations to MEPs who today voted by impressive majority to adopt the European Parliament’s negotiating mandate on the EU climate law, increasing its climate ambition with a 60% target in emissions reduction by 2030 – going beyond the “prudent” yet insufficient 55% that was recently set out by the Commission, which was critically commented on by EREF.
“The Parliament is absolutely right”, EREF Director Dr. Fouquet rejoiced: “Calling for higher 2030 and 2040 targets and making climate-neutrality binding at both EU and Member State level is the most reasonable pathway to sustainable growth, and for effectively decarbonising our societies by 2050. I would like to reiterate EREF’s full support to the Parliament’s green and liberal forces for driving the process, and extend our recognition to the social-democrats and conservatives who made the rightful choice. And although we much welcome the obligation to phase out all direct and indirect fossil fuel subsidies until the end of 2025, we strongly recommend to proceed likewise with all non-sustainable technologies such as nuclear – which in return will sustain Europe’s excellence in renewable energies.”
In addition, Dr. Fouquet acclaims that the Parliament rejects the Commission’s proposal to count natural sinks from land use and forestry into the 2030 target, following an advice previously issued by EREF. Likewise, MEPs voted down an EPP amendment to include carbon-cutting projects in developing countries, saying the EU objective should rely on nothing but domestic emission cuts.
Reducing emissions by 60% would translate into a renewables’ share of at least 40 to 45% by 2030, paving the way to fully decarbonised energy systems and societies that are based 100% on renewables, ideally well before 2050. The consequent deployment of renewables across the value chains of all sectors, including transport, heating and Europe’s industry, is the most cost-efficient and only available option that is forward-looking, fomenting Europe’s global leadership in innovation and the clean energy transition, while creating millions of futureproof jobs that are located within our continent – regardless how many times national(istic) politicians from predominantly Poland and other Eastern EU countries, but also among Germany’s and France’s conservatives, keep pretending that “overambitious” climate goals would threaten the EU’s economies and its labour markets.
The opposite holds true: our planet’s state of climate emergency demands nothing less but the fiercest and most vigorous measures, if we want to prevent temperatures rising to more than 1,5 degrees and natural disasters – such as wildfires, droughts, floods and a monstrous biodiversity – from occurring more often and become even more devastating, including famine and mass dislocation. Decarbonising is an enormous task and will be hugely be disruptive – but failing to do so will result in a harsher climate and even greater risks for our economies. In other words: there might not be many companies or labour markets left to protect, if we don’t start consequently act on climate change now, for the sake of humankind and our planet.
Also, the COVID-19 pandemic, despite its horrific global impact, offers an opportunity to accelerate the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions. EREF has been advocating since already April to attach green strings to recovery stimulus and corporate bail-out packages, for guiding investments into innovative and carbon-neutral solutions, supporting the Commission proposal to earmark at least 30% of its 750€ billion recovery plan for climate measures, in addition to increased targets.
It is in this very context that EREF calls on domestic decision-makers to seize the momentum and make sure Member States follow suite, after the people’s representatives of the EU did the right thing and set the bar higher than most were expecting. “We must now count on national governments to deliver on the EU’s increased targets and therefore cooperate on revisiting under the Green Deal all major energy and climate policies. This is the moment to push renewables and energy efficiency fast and forward, radically reform energy taxation and the Emissions Trading System, while designing new and better state aid guidelines that define support to renewables as a matter of public interest”, EREF’s Secretary General Dirk Hendricks pleads, adding that “this might the one of the greatest – and last – chances in a politician’s career to address the obvious and take climate action that deserves its name”.
For more information on this matter, please contact
Dr. Dörte Fouquet Dirk Hendricks
EREF Director EREF Secretary General
doerte.fouquet@eref-europe.org dirk.hendricks@eref-europe.org