Key EU lawmakers have asked the European Commission to present a package to boost the climate-friendly transformation of Europe’s industrial sector while expressing concerns about social stability once climate measures start to bite.

Lawmakers on the European Parliament’s environment committee grilled a Commission representative on Monday (29 January) about the EU’s progress in meeting climate objectives.

The assessment by the EU official was clear. “If we project the trend that we’ve seen in the last 30 years, we’re not going to meet the 2030 target,” said Luca de Carli, head of unit at the European Commission’s climate department.

Since the adoption of its ‘Fit for 55′ package of climate laws, the EU has adopted the necessary legislation to reduce emissions by at least 55% relative to 1990 levels before the end of the decade.

But that in itself is not enough, de Carli said. “It delivers the target, but we need to fully implement it,” he explained.

Approved measures include higher targets for renewables and energy efficiency but these have not yet filtered through the bloc’s 27 capitals, which are still busy implementing the new EU rules. A December assessment of draft national energy climate plans (NECPs) sees EU emission cuts at 51%, missing the bloc’s target of 55%.

“These are terrible results,” said Michael Bloss, a green lawmaker from Germany, who called for the establishment of a special task force to accelerate implementation. He was promptly reminded by the Commission official that the Greens had not even voted in favour of the EU’s 2021 climate law.

EU countries must present their finalised climate plans in June, addressing feedback from the Commission given in December.

“Member states have to address these recommendations in the revised plans in June. And also, there’s a process under the climate law where they need to inform us of what they intend to do,” explained de Carli.

New “Industry Decarbonisation Deal”

To meet the EU’s climate goals, the Commission has floated the introduction of an “industry decarbonisation deal” in its draft 2040 climate strategy due to be officially presented next week.

Industrial decarbonisation is very much on the minds of lawmakers because the amount of CO2 permits on the EU carbon market, the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), will get closer to zero by 2040 as Europe gets closer to its climate neutrality target.

“The cap is clear, but what we need is the decarbonisation of industry and not a deindustrialisation of Europe,” warned Peter Liese, a German MEP who is the environment speaker for the Parliament’s largest political faction, the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP).

Bas Eickhout, who hails from the Netherlands and is Liese’s counterpart in the Greens, cited the EU’s current lack of industrial policy. “The big question is how will our industry make those targets in 2040,” he remarked.

With its initial forays into industrial policy, the EU is adopting legislation to ensure the supply of critical raw materials and domestic production in key future-proof industries, but these are not sufficient, according to the Dutch lawmaker. Eickhout identified the circular economy, access to raw materials and electricity grids as key areas to focus on.

“Just saying we have the ETS allowances, and ‘it will be fine’ is not the message you should give,” Eickhout stressed.

Liberal MEPs from the centrist Renew group piled on, saying that the sweeping approach of the ETS, which affects all manufacturing sectors equally, could become problematic going forward.

“We should understand that in the different member states, you might have different structures and therefore different approaches to the way in which you are to reach the [climate] goals,” explained Nils Torvalds, a Finnish lawmaker who is Renew’s speaker on environmental issues.

Popular backlash

Torvalds also pointed to the risk of a voter backlash against green measures, saying: “We have some problems with popular support.” Aside from farmers’ protests in France and Germany, the EU has “severe problems in other sectors and member states,” he added.

Delara Burkhardt, a German socialist lawmaker, similarly expressed concerns about “social inequalities,” adding that Europe was heading for an “exacerbation of social tensions” with the introduction of carbon pricing policies on heating and transport.

The latest reform of the EU carbon market introduced a carbon price of €50 per tonne for heating and transport fuels as of 2027, a move that is expected to hike living costs for many Europeans.

Until 2030, prices are expected to go up by at least 10 cents per litre for petrol and 12 cents for diesel while heating fuel are expected to rise by around 10%, according to estimates. Gas prices, meanwhile, are expected to go up 1.25 cents per kilowatt-hour.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic, Alice Taylor and Frédéric Simon]

Source: Euractiv.com