At the end of harsh talks, the negotiators agreed to raise his ambitions. They also agreed from the end of free “polluting rights” of industrialists and the taxation of emissions linked to heating and cars
by Audrey Garric
This is the centerpiece of his climate plan. The European Union (EU) reached an agreement on Sunday 18 December, after long negotiations, on a vast reform of its carbon market. This step marks an important step to accelerate the climate ambition of the twenty-seven. It is part of the large -scale legislative package presented by the Commission in July 2021 in order to reduce European emissions by at least 55 % by 2030 compared to 1990 and reach carbon neutrality on the horizon 2050.
The agreement found on Sunday in trilogue, between the Commission, the European Parliament and the Member States, must still be confirmed by a vote of the Council in December and the MEPs in January or February 2023.
He first noted the ambition of the European carbon market, the largest in the world. Since 2005, the most polluting industries (electricity production, steel industry, cement, etc.), which represent 40 % of CO 2 emissions, must buy “permit to pollute “On this system of exchange of emission quotas (ETS in English). The idea is to encourage decarbonation and create income for the energy transition. But this principle of polluter pays did not allow heavy industry to reduce its carbon discharges. It benefits from millions of free quotas, set up to avoid relocating, and the price of the ton of co 2 sub> has long been too low to be incentive.
In order to put the market under tension, the number of rights to be polluted will be gradually reduced. So the sectors covered by the carbon market will have to decrease their 62 % emissions by 2030 compared to 2005, against a previous objective of – 43 %. The price of carbon – today around 85 euros per tonne of co 2 – “will be around 100 euros for these industries. No other continent in the world has a carbon price too Ambitious “, welcomes Pascal Canfin, MEP Renew and president of the Environment Commission of the European Parliament, which describes the new European agreement as” major “for the climate. The NGOs of the Climate Action Network Europe recall that a 70 % drop in these emissions would have been necessary for the EU to make its “fair share” in the limitation of global warming to 1.5 ° C.
This carbon market will be extended for the first time to the maritime sector and intra-European air flights. Waste incineration sites should also be subject to it from 2028, or 2030 at the latest, after a study by the Commission.
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