Every sector, every Member State must protect the planet

The EPP Group wants everyone, every economic sector and every Member State to contribute to protecting the planet, including agriculture and forests. "We want to safeguard our planet and hand it over to the next generation in good shape. Cutting CO2 emissions by 55% by 2030, compared to 1990, is ambitious, but necessary to achieve climate neutrality towards 2050", said the EPP Group’s Jessica Polfjärd MEP and Norbert Lins MEP.

Lins represents the EPP Group in talks on the new Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry Regulation (LULUCF), whereas Polfjärd negotiated the Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR) on behalf of the European Parliament.

"If you and I decide to run a marathon, it won’t be enough if I run 2 kilometres and you run 40. The same goes for our climate work. Europe will not be able to reach our climate goals unless every Member State contributes. No country or sector should rely anymore on others to do the job", said Polfjärd.

"One cannot protect the climate by teaming up against farmers and forest owners, but only by teaming up with them instead. We must support our farmers and forest managers to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. We therefore need a carbon sink target for 2030 that is realistic, ambitious and based on the most up-to-date figures and scientific analysis. Our policy should be in line with sustainable active forest management, incentivising carbon storage and the substitution of fossil fuels. Herewith, we can unlock the full climate potential of our forests and soils to achieve climate neutrality", concluded Lins.