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Climate: the EU unveils its battle plan to decarbonize its economy on Wednesday

2021-07-12T10:40:37.840Z


End of gasoline cars, kerosene tax on air travel, reform of the carbon market affecting the price of fuels: Brussels will unveil on Wednesday ...


End of gasoline cars, kerosene tax on air travel, reform of the carbon market affecting the price of fuels: Brussels will unveil on Wednesday all-out proposals, already contested, to accelerate the EU's green transition and achieve its reduction targets greenhouse gas emissions.

Read also: After the Covid crisis, the G20 is looking into the climate emergency

The European Commission will present twelve legislative texts putting its “

Green Pact

” to music, which will then be negotiated between MEPs and Member States, in order to place the continent in a position to reduce its emissions by 55% by 2030 compared to 1990.

"

A considerable expansion of the European carbon market

"

In this panoply of very technical measures, Brussels would consider in particular, according to several sources, the end of the marketing of gasoline cars as of 2035. But the main pillar of the project is a considerable enlargement of the European carbon market (ETS) established in 2005. , where are exchanged the "

permits to pollute

" governing certain sectors (electricity, steelmakers, cement, commercial aviation for flights in the EU). These companies are given emission allowances, which they can resell if they pollute less than expected, but these sectors only cover 40% of the continent's emissions.

The European executive therefore wants to extend the device to maritime transport, as well as road transport and construction, according to a project consulted by AFP.

Fuels and heating oil would be increased according to the price per tonne of carbon (which has doubled in two years), a prospect that worries from a social point of view.

The ETS is a rudimentary tool, with the same price for CO2 everywhere.

For transport and construction, the situation is different from one country to another,

”warns MEP Bas Eickhout (Greens).

A "

high

"

political cost

Despite specific aid, “

the most modest

households

, who do not have access to low-carbon alternatives

” would be penalized, protests the NGO Réseau Action Climat, denouncing a “

dangerous

proposal

. “

The political cost would be extremely high for very little climate gain. This toxic measure would generate unnecessary tension, giving ground to grind against the whole of the Green Pact

, ”says Pascal Canfin, president (Renew, Liberals) of the Environment committee in the European Parliament.

The Commission is also expected on the

border “

carbon tax

” project

, in the face of hostility from EU trading partners who cry out “

protectionism

”. The objective is to dissuade relocations to third countries with less stringent standards, against a backdrop of soaring carbon prices.

According to the project seen by AFP, certain imports (steel, cement, electricity, etc.) would gradually be subject to the purchase of "

emission certificates

" based on the price of carbon in the EU, an "

adjustment

" to the same rules governing European producers. In return, the free allowances distributed to EU manufacturers and airlines to face foreign competition would gradually decrease between 2026 and 2036 according to the Context site.

If the expected revenues, the use of which remains debated, will be modest (up to 14 billion euros per year), MEPs could "

broaden the scope

" of this unprecedented device in the world and weigh for a faster application, underlines Pascal Canfin.

Anxious to preserve jobs, the EPP (right) pleads for a lasting maintenance of free allocations to companies, as demanded by steelmakers and aluminum producers.

They come up against a common front of environmental NGOs and elected Greens, who demand their immediate removal, "

otherwise there would be no incentive signal

", according to MEP Michael Bloss, who also considers "

imperative

" to set a carbon price floor.

Which criteria for which sectors?

The Commission should also recommend increased efforts to reduce emissions for sectors excluded from the carbon market (agriculture, waste, part of industry, etc.). But the Twenty-Seven are torn apart over the criteria for distributing these efforts, several Eastern countries, dependent on coal, being alarmed at the economic cost.

The airline itself would be targeted by a kerosene tax project for intra-European flights, with the exception of cargo planes and private jets: the big companies of the continent have already denounced a "

distortion of competition

" with the rest. of the globe.

The energy saving objectives assigned to the States will be clearly raised and Brussels will propose to introduce a CO2 absorption target via

natural “

carbon sinks

” (forests).

Read also: Climate: Europe toughens its tone, the price of carbon soars

"

This could become a screen to camouflage the insufficiency of emission reductions elsewhere,

" worries Greenpeace, especially as the increase in the share of renewable energies would include biomass ... extracted from deforested forests. "The EU must stop

greenwashing

and support: fossil fuels, polluting transport, industrial breeding and deforestation", annoys Jorgo Riss, European director of Greenpeace, denouncing "

insufficient objectives with regard to science

".

Source: lefigaro

All business articles on 2021-07-12

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