Energy Transition in Europe | www.energy-cities.eu

After years of debate, the European Commission has unveiled its proposed carbon border levy. It is bold, complicated, controversial – and its prospects are far from certain.

The European Union has agreed to make climate neutrality by 2050 a legally binding target and set a target of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to the 1990 levels.
The negotiators of the European Parliament and the European Council have reached a provisional agreement on the European Climate Law. The law is the cornerstone of the European Green Deal which aims for climate neutrality by 2050.

Environment ministers from the 27 EU member states confirmed they would continue to push for a 55% net greenhouse gas reduction target by 2030 during a meeting of the environment council on Thursday (18 March), despite calls from Parliament to increase the EU's ambition.

The European Union needs to adopt separate targets for carbon emissions and removals. Otherwise, other countries like Brazil and Indonesia will do the same, which risks undermining talks at the UN’s COP26 conference this year, writes Suzana Carp.

The EU Climate Law is the first substantial legislation to implement the vision of the European Green Deal. It aims to enshrine the commitment to reach climate neutrality by 2050, to enhance the 2030 objective (reducing emissions by at least 55%) and to complement the EU’s climate governance tools. At the time of writing, the legislative train still ploughs on a year later under ‘trilogue’ negotiations between the Environment Council representing Member States, the European Parliament and the Commission. Among the key items under discussion is the Parliament’s proposal to establish a European Climate Change Council (ECCC)1 by June 2022, an independent expert advisory body at the EU level.

C’était réglé comme du papier à musique. Le 10 février, le gouvernement Castex a lancé une opération de communication préalable à la présentation, au parlement cette fois, de son projet de loi issu des travaux de la Convention citoyenne surLire l'article

Confused by the range of EU and national climate laws? The EU-ETS, the Effort-Sharing Regulation, the Renewable Energy Directive, the Energy Efficiency Directive, the Clean Energy for all Europeans Package, LULUCF, and more? Which are the important ones? Who exactly is making policy, and how? What are the real world effects? Julian Wettengel at Clean Energy Wire has asked experts to improve our understanding by answering a list of questions on targets, which policy instruments are making a difference, National vs EU policy, autonomy (can Germany act alone on Nordstream 2), the Europe-wide power market (can Italians buy Danish electricity), relations with non-EU states, and Brexit.

Que ce soit de la part d’instances consultatives, d’associations environnementales ou d’élus, depuis plusieurs jours les critiques pleuvent à l’encontre du projet de loi « climat et résilience », qui doit être examiné en Conseil des ministres ce mercredi 10 février.

La France va devoir montrer qu’elle agit vraiment en faveur du climat. Après le Conseil d’État la semaine dernière, qui donne trois mois au gouvernement pour rendre des comptes sur sa trajectoire de réduction des émissions de gaz à effet de serre, c’est au tour de la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme (CEDH) d’en faire de même.

La loi sur le climat, qui inscrit pour la première fois officiellement dans un texte législatif l’objectif d’atteindre la neutralité carbone d’ici 2050, a été présentée lundi par le ministère slovaque de l’Environnement.

The planned carbon border levy should be rolled out for imports of steel, iron, cement, fertilizers, aluminium and electricity, leaked EU draft documents read.
The European Commission’s formal proposal for the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) is expected on July 14. Countries outside the European Union like Turkey are preparing for the tax, and some steps are also being taken by indivitual Western Balkan countries.
According to leaked documents obtained by Euractiv, the EU is considering a transitional period of three years. The start is set for 2023 and a full application for 2026. The draft is subject to change before publication.

Ireland’s coalition government has approved a climate bill that enshrines emissions reduction targets in law and puts the country on a path to carbon neutrality by 2050.

The proposed law would commit Ireland to cutting its emissions by 51% between 2018 and 2030 and to net zero no later than 2050. Government is pushing it through parliament as priority legislation.

There are still many outstanding issues, particularly on climate ambition, after the fourth round of negotiations on Europe’s climate law closed on Friday (12 March), according to Jytte Guteland, the lead negotiator from the European Parliament.

TRIBUNE. Un éco-urbanisme avec la transition écologique pour objectif est aussi indispensable que l’adaptation de la ville aux menaces climatiques futures souligne, dans une tribune au « Monde », l’architecte et urbaniste Albert Levy.

Le 19 novembre dernier, le Conseil d’État a rendu un arrêt intermédiaire largement favorable aux requérants dans l’affaire dont il avait été saisi par la commune de Grande-Synthe (département du Nord, en périphérie de Dunkerque) à la suite du refus implicite du gouvernement de prendre des mesures supplémentaires pour respecter les objectifs de l’Accord de Paris sur le climat et, dans ce cas précis, limiter les impacts du changement climatique, notamment les risques de submersion de cette commune littoralehttps://www.conseil-etat.fr/actualites/actualites/emissions-de-gaz-a-effet-de-serre-le-gouvernement-doit-justifier-sous-3-mois-que-la-trajectoire-de-reduction-a-horizon-2030-pourra-etre-respecteeAffaires Urgenda aux Pays-Bas ; actions de maires aux États-Unis, à New York et en Californie.6. Dans ce billet de blog (à lire en parallèle du billet de Lucien Chabason sur la question), Marta Torre Schaub analyse la portée juridique de cette décision relative aux engagements climatiques de la France, au devoir d’information climatique et, in fine, au renforcement de la justice climatique.

On Wednesday, Parliament adopted its negotiating mandate on the EU climate law with 392 votes for, 161 against and 142 abstentions. The new law aims to transform political promises that the EU will become climate neutral by 2050 into a binding obligation and to give European citizens and businesses the legal certainty and predictability they need to plan for the transformation.

MEPs insist that both the EU and all member states individually must become climate-neutral by 2050 and that thereafter the EU shall achieve “negative emissions”. They also call for sufficient financing to achieve this.