EC to unveil stricter 2030 CO2 cut goal in September as planned

The European Commission intends to unveil ways to increase the EU's 2030 CO2 target in September as planned, using the latest possible economic data given the coronavirus pandemic economic shock.

It is working on an impact assessment for increasing the EU's 2030 target to cut CO2 emissions to 50%-55% below 1990 levels, up from the current 40%, as part of its European Green Deal strategy for the EU to be climate neutral by 2050.

"The value and credibility of the assessment will increase if we include the latest data," Frans Timmermans, the EC's executive vice president in charge of the European Green Deal, told the European Parliament's environment committee late Tuesday.

Any higher 2030 target would have to be approved by the European Parliament and the EU Council, representing national governments, to become binding.

The EC wanted to ensure that the European Green Deal would future proof the EU's economy, sector by sector, and make the EU "independent of fossil fuels," he said.

"Look at the unpredictability and volatility of energy markets now. We don't want to depend on that in the future," Timmermans said.

The global energy markets are going through unprecedented price volatility, with record low oil and gas prices after the pandemic lockdowns collapsed demand in just a few weeks.

Green economic recovery

The EC is working on a separate plan to help the EU economy recover from the lockdown impacts, and maintains that the European Green Deal is a priority strategy.

"We strongly believe at the EC that a green recovery is possible. The European Green Deal is a growth strategy and a winning strategy," Timmermans said.

He said that if the investment mobilized to recover from the lockdowns was spent on the "old economy" there would not be enough money to invest in the new, sustainable economy the EU needed.

So far 17 EU nations have backed keeping the European Green Deal as a key element of the EU's economic recovery plans.

They are Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

That leaves out most of the EU's eastern European nations, plus Belgium and Cyprus.

The EC unveiled proposals in January, before the pandemic hit Europe, to mobilize at least Eur1 trillion ($1.1 trillion) from 2021 to 2027 to help the EU become climate-neutral by 2050.

The EC proposed Eur503 billion of this to come from the EU's 2021-2027 budget, which EU national governments have yet to agree.

This EU budget now needs to be re-imagined in light of the pandemic to "unlock massive public and private investment" to create a "more resilient, green and digital Europe," EC President Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament on April 16.

She is working with European Council President Charles Michel on a roadmap and action plan on how to bring the EU "back to strong, sustainable and inclusive growth, based on a green and digital strategy," according to the European Council website.

They plan to discuss this with EU leaders at a videoconference on Thursday.

The EU's multi-annual budget set the limits for EU spending and is based on contributions from national governments.

It is notoriously time-consuming to agree.

The EC made its initial proposal for the 2021 to 2027 budget in May 2018, calling for Eur1,135 billion in commitments, equal to 1.11% of the EU27's gross national income.