After more than 16 hours of negotiations, environment ministers from the 27-nation European Union have agreed on common positions on five laws, part of a broader package of measures to reduce global warming emissions this decade. “The climate crisis and its consequences are clear, and therefore politics is inevitable,” said EU climate policy chief Frans Timmermans, adding that he believed the invasion of Ukraine by Russia ‘s top gas supplier was pushing countries. to give up fossil fuels faster. Environment ministers backed key parts of the package first proposed by the European Commission last summer, including a law requiring new cars sold in the EU after 2035 to emit zero carbon. This would make it impossible to sell cars with an internal combustion engine. The agreement makes it possible for the proposal to become EU law. The ministers’ agreements will shape their position in the forthcoming negotiations with the European Parliament on the final laws. Parliament has already supported the 2035 target for cars.
Current hybrid models do not go far enough
Italy, Slovakia and other countries wanted to delay phasing out until 2040. The countries eventually backed a compromise that kept the 2035 target. According to a copy of the agreement agreed by the ministers and seen by Reuters, the countries want Brussels to evaluate the development of plug-in hybrid vehicles in 2026 and whether they could contribute to the goal. Timmermans said the Commission would be “open-minded”, but that hybrids today do not have sufficient emission reductions. The climate proposals aim to ensure that the EU, the world’s third-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, will meet its 2030 target of reducing net emissions by 55 per cent from 1990 levels. The EU’s climate policy chief said the climate crisis and its consequences were clear, prompting countries to take concrete steps to switch to electric vehicles to reduce emissions. (Toby Melville / Reuters) This will require governments and industries to invest heavily in cleaner construction, renewable energy and electric vehicles. Ministers backed a new EU carbon market to impose CO2 costs on polluting fuels used in transport and buildings, although they said it would start in 2027, a year later than originally planned. After tough negotiations, they agreed to set up a € 59 billion EU fund to protect low-income citizens from the cost of the policy for the period 2027-2032. Lithuania was the only country to oppose the final deals, having unsuccessfully sought a bigger fund along with Poland, Latvia and others who were worried that the new CO2 market could boost citizens’ energy bills. Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands – the richest countries that would pay more into the fund than they would take back – wanted it to be smaller. Ministers also rallied for reforms in the EU’s current coal market, which is forcing industry and power plants to pay when they pollute. Countries have accepted the key elements of the Commission’s proposal to strengthen the market by reducing emissions by 61 percent by 2030 and extending it to cover shipping. They also agreed on rules that would facilitate EU intervention in response to rising CO2 prices.
