European Climate Law amendment

The EU Youth Test at the EESC was applied to this opinion. The ESDN Youth was chosen by a group of interested youth organisations to represent all of them during the opinion-making process.

Key points

The EESC:

• welcomes the anticipated Climate Law Amendment, which proposes a binding 2040 climate target of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by 90% compared to 1990 and reaffirms its support for a climate target of a 90% net emissions reduction by 2040;

• supports the approach chosen by the Commission to include guidelines on enabling policies in Article 1 of the Climate Law Amendment (CLA), as this aligns with the EESC’s previous call for enabling policies to ensure the competitiveness of European industries and a just transition and for all zero- and low-carbon technologies to be used cost-effectively as the only way to achieve the demanding 90% target;

• calls on the Council and the Parliament to agree on a 90% reduction climate target by 2040 and accompanying NDC by September and early October 2025 respectively at the latest;

• believes that reducing emissions in the EU should be the main priority of climate action, reflecting the highest possible level of ambition;

• recognises that high-integrity international credits could provide necessary flexibility for reaching the 2040 target while avoiding a substitution for domestic climate action or causing social or environmental harm. Credits should also align with other EU external and domestic policies. The EESC recommends establishing an EU-wide entity to procure, monitor and ensure the quality of the credits. International credits should be excluded from use for compliance with the ETS;

• notes that future enlargement of the EU is likely to fall within the timeframe of the 2040 target. The EESC calls for the Commission to clarify the impact of enlargement on the 2040 climate target, including how the baseline year 1990 and the 90% target are to be calculated in the event of a larger EU;

• proposes that international credits generated in EU candidate countries be prioritised and proposes allowing international credits from candidate countries to be counted towards the 2040 target from 2031 onwards and asks the Commission to provide a synthesis impact assessment focusing on the 90% target, including on the impact of using international credits;

• recommends including the export of clean technologies in the CLA and establishing a Clean Industrial Scoreboard to track employment, innovation, and export growth in net-zero sectors;

• proposes that food security be included in the CLA amongst the elements to consider in the subsequent legislative proposals and reminds of the unique role of agriculture, forestry and farming in climate action, conservation of natural resources, biodiversity, healthy ecosystems and the thriving of rural communities;

• recommends that tackling energy poverty should be recognised in the Climate Law Amendment;

• encourages the Commission to identify and promote dual-use technological solutions that serve both defence and climate objectives.