While negotiations on the legislative package that needs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the continent will be one of the major challenges of the French Presidency of the European Union, the subject was at the center. Priorities announced by the President of the Republic, Thursday, December 9.
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If Emmanuel Macron enamelled his reference speech to the climate emergency, the ecology did not cut a central place at his press conference on the priorities of the French Presidency of the European Union Thursday 9 December. The climate will be one of the major challenges of the next semester at the European level, with the work on the legislative package “Fit for 55”. Fourteen Fail Proposal Mastodon which attack all economic sectors to achieve the European Union (EU) Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Goals, with a decrease of at least 55% By 2030 compared to 1990.
After assured that the French Presidency of the EU would advance these texts without “losing a minute, because it is an absolute emergency”, the head of state mentioned three climate priorities and Biodiversity, already mentioned in recent months: first, the establishment of a carbon adjustment mechanism at the borders, in order to tax, in the most polluting sectors (steel, electricity, cement, fertilizer, aluminum), Imports from third countries to less stringent environmental standards – a measure that is part of “Fit for 55”.
Then, the establishment of a European instrument against imported deforestation, which aims to exclude from the European market beef, wood, palm oil, soy, coffee and cocoa whose production is linked to deforestation or degradation of forests. The implementation of this mechanism is crucial while the EU is the second largest importer in the world (behind China) of raw materials related to deforestation. Finally, the consistency of trade and climatic policies and biodiversity by pushing for “mirror clauses”, in order to prohibit the importation of products made with prohibited substances in the European space.
“Decrease our consumption”
“Emmanuel Macron has only mentioned legislation that aim to lower emissions outside Europe, Note Neil Makaroff, Head of European Policy on the Climate Action Network (CARs). These three measures are necessary but not sufficient: European emissions must also be reduced and carry out the current reforms in the major issuing sectors, such as the end of sale of thermal vehicles in 2035, the reform of the European carbon market or the efficient renovation of the buildings to eradicate energy poverty. “
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