Context: 

The European Union proposed a new goal for 2040 through its commission, aiming to reduce greenhouse gas net emissions by 90% compared to 1990 levels.

New Climate Goal For 2040: European Union

This proposal is an interim step required by the EU Climate Law (2021), which outlines a process to develop a 2040 target within six months of the first Global Stocktake (GST), which concluded at the 28th Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC in Dubai in December 2023.

• The 2040 target by the EU outlines a roadmap in line with GST,  stating that coal will be almost completely phased out by 2040, natural gas will rapidly decline in use and oil will be the last to be phased out.

EU Earlier Steps to Mitigate Net Emissions

• Earlier Goal: In September 2020, the EU set a new goal to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 55% compared to 1990 levels by 2030. 
  • This decision was formalised as the EU’s second Nationally Determined Contribution to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in December 2020.
• EU Climate Law: Following up on this commitment, the EU Climate Law was passed in 2021, which not only included the 55% reduction target but also pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
• Fit For 55: To support these ambitious goals, the European Commission released the “Fit for 55” package in 2021. 
  • This package was a comprehensive set of proposals designed to help the EU reach its 2030 reduction target and pave the way for a cleaner, more sustainable future.

Criticism 

• Missing reflection of the EU’s historical emissions burden:
  • While the 2030 goal of a 55 per cent reduction would lead to an absolute emission level of 2.16 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent based on 1990 levels, the 90 per cent goal would mean an absolute emission level of 0.48 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent.
  • Climate Action Tracker and the European Union Scientific Advisory Board for Climate Change suggest that the Commission would ideally need a target of 65 per cent emissions reduction by 2030 and at least a 95 per cent reduction by 2040 compared to 1990 levels to remain on a 1.5C pathway and to address its fair share.
• Heavy faith in carbon capture & CO2 removal: The dependence on CCUS, which still remains largely unreliable as an effective climate action strategy, is concerning and raises questions about the ambition of the target. 
  • The proposal expects carbon removals to reach up to 400 tonnes of CO2 by 2040, up from 310 tonnes of CO2 removal by 2030 as envisioned in the 2021 plan.
  • According to Climate Action Tracker if this dependence on carbon capture usage and storage (CCUS) and carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies is removed, the actual reduction will only be about 84 per cent by 2040.
• Concessions for the agricultural sector: Earlier leaked draft of the proposal had strong targets for the agricultural sector – a 30 per cent emissions reduction between 2015 and 2040. 
  • However, the present target is nearly 11 per cent.

Climate-Focused Policies Of EU

The EU has introduced several climate-focused policies alongside the 2040 proposal.

• Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM): It was put in place in 2022, aiming to regulate trade to tackle climate change.
  •  It faced criticism from developing nations like India and South Africa, who fear increased costs.
• Green Deal Industrial Plan:  It was also introduced in 2022, and includes initiatives such as the Net Zero Industry Act and the Critical Raw Materials Act. 
  • These initiatives aimed to boost domestic production of green technologies.
• The Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA): This act  was finalised on February 6 and it  has provisions to support the production of renewable energy, energy storage, and electric grids. 
  • There’s a push to expand its scope to include nuclear power, though some groups criticise its support for costly and unreliable technologies like CCUS.

News Source: DownToEarth