- EU countries agree on a package of green policies
- States agree to support a ban on fossil fuel vehicles in 2035
- Compromise with the fund for protection of citizens from CO2 costs
- EU countries and parliament will now negotiate the final laws
LUXEMBOURG, June 29 (Reuters) – EU countries signed agreements Wednesday on proposed climate change laws, supporting the phasing out of new fossil fuel sales in 2035 and a multibillion-euro fund to protect -poor citizens from CO2 costs.
After more than 16 hours of negotiations, environment ministers from the 27 EU member states have agreed on joint positions on five laws, part of a broader package of measures to reduce emissions that have warmed the planet over the decade.
“The climate crisis and its consequences are clear, so policy is inevitable,” said EU Climate Representative Frans Timmermans, adding that he believed that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine’s largest gas supplier was prompting countries to give up. faster than fossil fuels.
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
I’m registering
Ministers backed key parts of the package, which the European Commission proposed for the first time last summer, including a law requiring new cars sold in the EU to emit zero CO2 by 2035. This would make it impossible to sell cars with internal combustion engines.
The deal makes the proposal likely to become EU law. The agreements between the ministers will form their position in the forthcoming negotiations with the European Parliament on the final laws. Parliament has already supported the 2035 car target.
COMPROMISE
Italy, Slovakia and other countries wanted the phasing out to be postponed until 2040. Finally, the parties supported a compromise that kept the 2035 target and asked Brussels to assess in 2026 the development of hybrid vehicles with an addition to the network and whether they could contribute to the goal, according to a copy of the deal agreed by ministers and seen by Reuters.
Timmermans said the Commission would maintain an “open opinion”, but that hybrids did not lead to sufficient emissions reductions today.
The climate proposals aim to ensure that the EU of 27 – the world’s third largest source of greenhouse gases – achieves its 2030 target of reducing net emissions by 55% from 1990 levels.
This will require governments and industries to invest heavily in cleaner production, renewable energy and electric vehicles.
Ministers supported a new EU carbon market to impose CO2 costs on polluting fuels used in transport and buildings, although they said it should start in 2027, a year later than originally planned.
After difficult negotiations, they agreed to set up an EU fund of 59 billion euros to protect low-income citizens from political spending in 2027-2032.
Lithuania was the only country to oppose the final agreements after unsuccessfully seeking a larger fund, along with Poland, Latvia and others, who are interested in the fact that the new CO2 market could increase citizens’ energy bills.
Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands – richer countries that would pay more into the fund than they would get back – wanted it to be smaller.
Ministers also united behind reforms in the EU’s current carbon market, which forces industry and power plants to pay when they pollute.
The countries adopted key elements of the Commission’s proposal to strengthen the market to reduce emissions by 61% by 2030 and expand it to cover shipping. They agreed on rules to facilitate EU intervention in response to soaring CO2 prices.
Ministers backed two other laws to strengthen national emission reduction targets that Brussels sets for countries for certain sectors and to increase natural carbon sinks such as forests.
(1 dollar = 0.9454 euros)
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
I’m registering
Report by Kate Abnett; additional reports by Marine Strauss; Edited by Raisa Kasolowski, Gary Doyle and Gareth Jones
Our standards: Thomson Reuters’ principles of trust.
Add Comment