European Union Environment Ministers strike a deal on climate law, decides to discuss 2030 target later

The Environment Ministers of European Union on October 23, 2020 struck a deal to make 2050 zero emissions target of the bloc legally binding. However, the decision on a 2030 emissions-cutting target has been left for the leaders to be discussed in December 2020.

The deal was struck by the environment ministers of European Union at a meeting in Luxembourg on October 23 and none of the 27 members rejected the bill except Bulgaria. The deal aims at aiding the bloc in achieving its target of reaching zero emissions by 2050.

#ENVI Council | EU ministers adopted today:

➡️ partial general approach on #EUClimateLaw
➡️ conclusions on #EUBiodiversity strategy

Read the main results👉 https://t.co/L2bJQ4nvqF#ClimateNeutralEU🌍 pic.twitter.com/wTR6Rk3wpq

— EU Council (@EUCouncil) October 23, 2020

What will change with a deal on climate law?

The landmark climate change law will be forming a basis for Europe’s plan of slashing greenhouse gas emissions. There will be reshaping of all the sectors, from heavy industry to transport and will require hundreds of billions of euros in annual investments.

With this move, the target of EU to reach net zero emissions by 2050 will be fixed in law and the rules will also be defined for reviewing progress through climate change law.

According to EU Climate Policy Chief Frans Timmermans, the law will give Brussels the legal possibility to act if the promises are not delivered. The ministers of EU have agreed to make 2050 zero emissions target an EU wide goal rather than the target for the individual countries. With this, one country will be able to make higher emissions of others agree to make deeper cuts.

The European Parliament, which along with EU must agree on the final law, plans on making the target binding on each country.

2030 emissions cutting target to be discussed later:

In the meeting on October 23, the minister agreed to discuss the emissions cutting target of 2030 to be discussed later in December.

There has also been a discussion on stepping up the European Union’s 2030 climate ambition for which the European commission suggested that there is a need to cut emissions by 55% by 2030.

The environment ministers during the meeting on October 23 also agreed that EU must set an emissions- cutting goal for 2040 and the commission must consider the new legislative measures to cut EU emissions if the existing ones fall short.