Climate Change: Europe unites behind Paris deal as EP agrees on emissions cuts

Europe unites against US pulling out of the climate change accord, says Paris Agreement will survive Trump

The European Parliament today adopted legislation implementing its 2030 emissions reduction targets for the agriculture, transport, building and waste sectors of the economy not regulated under the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS).

"The European Parliament is not only talking about climate change, it is also doing something about it", said Peter Liese MEP, EPP Group Spokesman in the Environment Committee of the European Parliament, welcoming the united vote on the new environment legislation.

The cuts agreed on in the so-called ‘Effort Sharing Regulation’ will help deliver on the EU’s emissions reduction targets for 2030, which represent a 30% cut from 2005 levels, in line with the Paris Agreement. New legislation will make it possible to break down the EU target into binding, national ones for sectors such as agriculture, transport, building and waste, which together account for about 60% of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The EPP Group has set the agenda ambitiously, advancing the starting date of the emissions reduction trajectory to 2018, as opposed to 2020 which was proposed by the European Commission. At the same time, the EPP Group has made sure that access to flexibilities will be granted to countries suffering from the economic crisis. The new legislation mentions two new flexibilities in particular: flexibility to access credits from the land use sector, limited to up to 280 million tonnes of CO2, and ETS flexibility limited to 100 million tonnes, plus 35 million tonnes on climate efficient farming.

Pilar Ayuso MEP, the EPP Group’s negotiator, added: "Both flexibilities are very important achievements for the EPP Group. The early compliance reserve will allow some flexibility to least favoured countries in the distribution.”

"We should stay ambitious, strive towards Paris targets, but remain realistic at the same time. We have the chance to turn Trump’s decision into an opportunity for Europe. We not only can, but also want to take the lead in protecting our climate - our future depends on it", concluded Liese.