Tomorrow, the EU is expected to announce its climate contributions towards the Paris climate agreement. The expected decision will build on the European Commission’s Road to Paris vision published last week. Hopes are that Ministers take their chances to address a number of critical issues that risk severely undermining the 40% domestic reduction target. They include a clear commitment to increase the 40% target in case of linking the EU’s emissions trading system (EU ETS) with other carbon markets, the way land use emissions are accounted for and the threat the existing surplus of emission allowances pose on the 2030 climate target.
Last week, Switzerland was the first country to officially submit its climate commitment ahead of the international climate agreement to be finalized in Paris at the end of this year. Switzerland announced a 50% emission reduction target by 2030, of which at least 30% must be achieved in Switzerland itself. The remaining up to 20% should be attained through purchasing carbon credits with “high environmental standards” applying a negative list and excluding projects that violate human rights but no criteria are proposed to assess the environmental integrity of ETS allowances.
In February members of the European Parliament voted to start the reform of the EU’s carbon market by 2019, and put almost 1.4 billion pollution permits that were due to come back to the market by 2020 directly into the new market stability reserve (MSR). Unfortunately the reform does not provide a structural solution for the lacking environmental effectiveness of the EU ETS, as around 800 million surplus allowances are allowed to flow back to the market again before 2030, diluting the EU’s 2030 target by 3%.
Today, the European Commission (EC) has published a first glimpse of the mitigation contributions the EU intends to contribute to the Paris Protocol. The Communication launched today entitled “The Paris Protocol – A blueprint for tackling global climate change beyond 2020” includes a proposal for the EU’s proposed Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDCs) prepared in …
Read more “European Commission publishes vision on the Paris Protocol to tackle climate change”
The EU is expected to sign-off on its official international climate pledge – the so called Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC), with an announcement on 6 March at the next meeting of the EU’s Environment Ministers. This announcement will make the EU the first region to flesh out its pledge following the Lima UNFCCC meeting. …
Read more “Media Advisory: Announcement of EU climate pledge for UN climate deal may undermine 40% domestic climate target by 5%”
In December 2014 implementing rules to achieve the CO2 reduction target of oil suppliers in Europe were adopted. The newly adopted fuel standard opens doors for oil companies to use questionable offsets, including from heavily contested activities related to tar sand exploitation in Alberta. It is now up to EU Member States to take the red pen when transposing the rules into national law and avoid the CO2 reduction target to be severely undermined.
This month, South Korea became the second Asian country after Kazakhstan to officially start a national carbon market. The first carbon allowances that were traded on the Korea Exchange were sold at a similar price to that in Europe’s emissions trading system (EU ETS). South Korea’s ETS could therefore be a good candidate for linking with EU’s carbon market now that the EU is looking at linking as replacement for the barred use of international offsets. While linking can have significant consequences for the integrity of the EU ETS, the European Parliament is currently not in a position to scrutinize the linking negotiation process.
Brussels, 17 December 2014. Today, the European Parliament adopted the proposal to implement the Fuel Quality Directive (FQD), opening doors for the use of offsets associated with Alberta’s tar sands. A report launched today shows how the oil companies’ lobby succeeded in watering down the measure, allowing their activities in Alberta’s tar sands to count towards achieving their EU decarbonisation obligations.
The revised Fuel Quality Directive (FQD) has the objective of reducing the greenhouse gas intensity of transport fuels by 6% by 2020, compared to 2010. Recently a revised proposal for a Council Decision to implement the FQD was adopted by the Council and the European Parliament.
