Europe's Green Deal: Climate protection in the EU is now law

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Demo by environmentalists: climate activists are disappointed with the law (archive image)

Photo: amriphoto / Getty Images

Just a few years ago it was a dream of climate activists and green politicians: A climate law for the European Union and with it the binding commitment to reduce greenhouse gases to net zero over the next 30 years.

Now the time has come: the three most important institutions - the European Council, the EU Parliament and the EU Commission - agreed on such an EU climate law after tough negotiations.

It is therefore legally binding that the European Union must convert its economies to CO2-free industries, electricity and heat generation, electric cars and climate-friendly construction and agriculture.

With the EU climate law, the legal foundation for the European Green Deal has now been laid:

• It stipulates that the European Union must become climate neutral by 2050, this applies to the Union as a whole, not to the individual states

• and provides for a binding climate target by 2030: at least 55 percent less than in 1990

• the law also appoints a European climate council of 15 members - the European Climate Change Council, which is to oversee the climate protection roadmap

• and prescribes a greenhouse gas budget that defines the maximum number of millions of tonnes of emissions that can be released into the atmosphere by 2030 and 2050

But climate activists and green members of the EU parliament are seriously disappointed by the climate law.

Michael Bloss, German MEP for the Greens, speaks of one

»Tragedy«.

Bloss fought bitterly in the nightly negotiations for a higher climate target until the end, called on his voters via social media to put pressure on the EU ministers and let his anger run free on Twitter.

But unsuccessful: The climate target remained at the 55 percent proposed by the heads of state and government until 2030. The Green Bloss had fought as a so-called shadow reporter for 60 percent.

Parliament decided on this climate target last autumn.

Individual environment ministers from Denmark and Sweden even want minus 65 percent.

"With this climate target we will hardly be able to slow the climate crisis," said Bloss after the final decision on Tuesday night.

"The decisions were made by people who ignore facts and science."

According to the criticism, the council never really took the 60 percent demand seriously.

"As a co-legislator, the EU Parliament has equal rights in the decision-making process," complains the Germanwatch organization's climate expert, Oldag Caspar.

"The EU should now

spell out

at least the

minimum in

front of the number 55 and show that it is basically ready to land at a higher value."

Others are more relaxed about the result: "It has long been clear that the climate target of 55 percent will prevail," believes Oliver Geden from the Science and Politics Foundation (SWP).

He thinks the climate law is important - but it would also have a strong symbolic character: "So far, the EU has seriously pursued its climate goals even without a comprehensive law," says Geden.

"It is now clear to all countries and the economy that there is no going back."

Oliver Geden, Science and Politics Foundation (SWP)

For the previous climate goals, for example, legal acts were passed, with which the member states were obliged to implement the reductions through laws.

The rest is covered by the European emissions trading scheme.

"That is why a climate law is not absolutely necessary, because the EU Commission has already been able to propose detailed regulations that were then passed by the member states and parliament." However, the climate law is a strong signal.

"It is now clear to all countries and the economy that there is no going back."

A billion tons in ten years

The climate target for 2030 is the heart and bone of contention of the law passed today.

It defines the steps to be taken over the next ten years.

Compared to the previous climate target, the EU increased its target by 15 percentage points.

Accordingly, the EU must now save more than a billion tons of greenhouse gases - in less than ten years.

That is roughly what has been saved since 1990 - within 30 years.

Scientists and Green politicians think that is not enough.

"The target is not compatible with 1.5 degrees," has been commenting climate researcher Stefan Rahmstorf for months.

The difference between the 55 percent target and Parliament's higher climate target is almost 300 million tons of CO2 - roughly the same as Spain's CO2 emissions.

The 55 percent target decided today must now be passed on to the member states.

Germany, too, will probably have to sharpen its climate target.

The “Fit for 55” legislative package that the EU Commission intends to present in June is supposed to clarify how exactly the burdens are distributed.

It is an all-round blow that affects all areas: EU emissions trading, European CO2 regulation for vehicles, the directive for renewable energies, energy taxation and the distribution of burdens between the countries are to be reorganized.

Tariffs for CO2-intensive products are also on the agenda.

Will the climate target be reduced?

According to observers, the inclusion of the so-called sinks is more critical than the overall goal. The CO2 effect of forests or moors is offset against the greenhouse gases emitted. According to EU figures, around 250 million tonnes of greenhouse gases are made up for in the member states each year, for example through afforestation. If you include these so-called CO2 sinks, the 55 percent would then only be just under 53 percent "real" CO2 reduction, explain critics such as Green politicians Bloss. Here, too, Parliament was unable to assert itself. In the negotiations, the EU Council at least offered the prospect of increasing the proportion of sinks to 300 million and then adding this increase to the climate target - the target could then be over 55 percent.

"Climate sinks can quickly become sources of CO2 due to advancing climate change"

Oldag Caspar, Germanwatch

However, Oliver Geden also advocates not mixing the sinks with the overall climate target.

"The output of a coal-fired power plant has to be calculated clearly," says political scientist Geden.

"But the calculation of sinks is a highly complex matter." Nobody can know how a forest will develop in the next twenty years, whether it will burn down, be attacked by bark beetles or be cut down.

"That is why it is a huge effort to collect these figures and even more so to plan climate policy on this basis," said Geden.

In addition, climate expert Caspar believes that it can easily happen that the sinks become a source of CO2 as a result of ongoing climate change, but they are still calculated as a sink.

According to negotiating insiders, the German Ministry of Economic Affairs is also said to have pushed for sinking offsetting as part of the overall goal.

However, Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze was not able to "fend off" this.

The EU wanted to shine at the US climate summit - but it is only mediocre

The quick agreement was reached on Tuesday evening because the European Union does not want to travel empty-handed to the US climate summit on Thursday.

According to insiders, President Emmanuel Macron in particular has put extreme pressure on - even though the 55 percent target has already been reported to the UN.

The new US President Joe Biden wants to get the climate negotiations going again and has invited 40 heads of state and government to a virtual meeting.

Despite today's agreement, the EU remains rather mediocre compared to other countries: The US is expected to commit to a 50 percent reduction compared to 2005 by 2030 - according to experts, this is around 57 percent when compared to the EU target.

"The USA not only overtook us when it comes to vaccinating, but are also galloping away with their climate targets and investments in renewables and e-mobility," says the green politician Bloss.

"This is embarrassing and is massively damaging our economy."

This also applies to countries like Great Britain. Boris Johnson's government announced that it wanted to save 78 percent of its greenhouse gases by 2035. As the host of the next UN climate conference, she is a real role model.