The EU aims to “give mankind a chance to fight” through a comprehensive climate plan Reuters

Kate Arnett

Brussels (Reuters)-European Union policymakers announced their most ambitious climate change plan to date on Wednesday, aiming to translate green goals into concrete actions for the decade, and use this to open up opportunities for other large economies in the world the way.

The European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, elaborated how the 27 EU countries can reduce their net greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 from 1990 levels-a step towards achieving “net zero” emissions by 2050.

This will mean raising the cost of carbon emissions for heating, transportation, and manufacturing, imposing taxes on high-carbon aviation fuels and shipping fuels that were not previously taxed, and charging importers at the border for carbon emissions from products such as cement and steel. And foreign aluminum. It will make the internal combustion engine history.

Frans Timmermans, the head of EU climate policy, said: “We will ask many of our citizens. We will also ask many of our industries, but we have a valid reason for doing so.”

“We do this to give mankind a chance to fight.”

The “Fit for 55” measure will require the approval of member states and the European Parliament, and this process may take two years.

They may also face strong lobbying from some industrial sectors, poorer European member states that want to protect their citizens from rising prices, and heavily polluting countries facing costly transitions.

A diplomat from an EU country said that the success of the package depends on its ability to be realistic and socially fair, while not undermining economic stability.

The diplomat said: “The purpose is to raise the economy to a new level, not to stop it.”

Follow Glasgow

The EU’s emissions account for only 8% of global emissions, but it is hoped that its example will trigger ambitious action when other major economies in the world hold their next landmark United Nations climate conference in Glasgow in November.

“Europe is the first continent to declare climate neutrality by 2050, and now we are the first continent to put a specific road map on the table,” said Ursula von der Lein, President of the European Commission.

The package arrived a few days after California suffered one of the highest temperatures on record on Earth, the latest in a series of brutal heat waves that hit Russia, Northern Europe and Canada.

As climate change is felt from tropical regions swept by typhoons to the burnt-out jungles of Australia, Brussels has proposed more than a dozen policies to target most of the fossil fuel emission sources that cause climate change, including power plants, factories, cars, and airplanes. And the heating system is in the building.

So far, EU emissions have been reduced by 24% from 1990 levels, but many of the most obvious steps, such as reducing dependence on coal for power generation, have been taken.

The next decade will require even greater adjustments, and focusing on 2050, scientists have stated that the world must reach net zero carbon emissions by then to prevent climate change from becoming catastrophic.

These measures follow a core principle: making pollution more expensive and green options more attractive to the EU’s 25 million companies and nearly 1 billion people.

Aircraft, ships and cars

By 2035, stricter vehicle emission restrictions will actually end the EU’s new gasoline and diesel vehicle sales-this is the earliest date touted.

The EU emissions trading system is the world’s largest carbon market, and it will force factories, power plants and airlines to pay more when emitting carbon dioxide. Ships will also join ETS, requiring ship owners to pay for their pollution for the first time.

A new EU carbon market will impose carbon dioxide costs on the transportation and construction sectors-some of which will be invested in funds to curb fuel costs for low-income households.

The European Commission also announced its world’s first carbon border tariff plan, requiring foreign manufacturers to pay for the carbon dioxide they generate when they sell steel and cement to the European Union.

At the same time, the tax reform will impose taxes on polluting aviation fuel within the EU, and such taxes can be avoided at present.

EU member states will also be required to build forests and grasslands-carbon sinks that exclude carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

For some EU countries, the package is an opportunity to consolidate the EU’s global leadership in tackling climate change and stand at the forefront of the development of required technologies.

Dan Jorgensen, the Danish Minister of Climate and Energy, said that this will send a signal to the rest of the world that “both ambitious goals can be set, and concrete necessary measures can be taken to achieve them.”

But these plans exposed familiar rifts. Poorer member states are cautious about policies that increase consumer costs, while regions that rely on coal-fired power plants and coal mines want more support for the transition, which will lead to chaos and require large-scale retraining.