Last week in an event in the European Parliament, various stakeholders discussed experiences with existing climate mechanisms against the future climate finance policy landscape, where potentially huge amounts of climate finance will not only be channeled through the Green Climate Fund (GCF) but also through bilateral agreements and other instruments where it is still unclear what types of safeguards and compliance mechanisms will be applicable and how the respective public and private stakeholders involved will be accountable.
The EU’s carbon market desperately needs to get rid of excess weight if it is to perform as an effective climate change fighting tool in the future. The task of providing a way to do this – for example by permanently cancelling the current oversupply of more than two billions tonnes of CO2 – is now up to the European Commission when presenting its plans to revise the EU’s emissions trading system (ETS) by mid-2015.
On 24 October 2014, the European Council agreed on the 2030 framework for climate and energy [1], including a binding domestic target for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of at least 40% in 2030 as compared to 1990. To meet this target, the European Council agreed that the emissions in the EU Emission Trading System should be reduced, compared to 2005, by 43%. A reformed EU ETS remains the main instrument to achieve the emission reduction target. The cap will decline based on an annual linear reduction factor of 2.2% (instead of the current 1.74%) from 2021 onwards, to achieve the necessary emission reductions in the EU ETS. The European Council furthermore gave strategic guidance on several issues regarding the implementation of the emission reduction target, namely free allocation to industry, the establishment of a modernisation and an innovation fund, optional free allocation of allowances to modernise electricity generation in some Member States.
24 February 2015
Subject: Promoting human rights in all climate actions – EU Strategic Framework and Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy
Dear Mr Lambrinidis, the undersigned organisations urge you to include in the updated EU Strategic Framework and Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy an objective for the EU to pursue a human rights based approach in all areas of its external action without exception, including climate change related activities. Climate change is a global injustice to present and future generations, and one of the greatest human rights challenges of our time. We are highly concerned about the grave harm that climate change is already causing both in Europe and beyond, and will continue to cause, to people and communities as well as to the environment on which we all depend.
Brussels, 6 March 2015. Today, EU’s environment ministers presented the EU’s contribution to the international climate agreement to be finalized in Paris by the end of the year. Carbon Market Watch criticises the official contribution for the lack of detail and calls on ministers to specify measures that avoid that hot air and emission removals from forests undermine the 40% domestic emissions reduction target.
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”
