Thread by @DaveKeating

President @VonDerLeyen unveiling #FitFor55 climate package now.

It is the largest single batch of legislation to stop climate change proposed by any government anywhere, designed to update EU laws to meet the new 2030 emissions reduction target of 55% (raised from 40%).

That EU 2030 target was raised in December, motivated partly by the #FridaysForFuture climate protests.

But for the past 6 months there have been many questions about how the new target will be met.

Today we're getting answers.
energymonitor.ai/policy/eu-emis…

Other major economies are also setting more ambitious 2030 emissions reduction targets.

But today the EU becomes the first to spell out how to reach the goal with detailed policy proposals.
energymonitor.ai/policy/green-d…

There are 12 legislative proposals, but these are the main ones:

💶 A carbon border tax (#CBAM) on imports from countries without stringent climate legislation

🚗🏠🚢 Expanding emissions trading to cars, buildings and ships

⛽️ Changing energy taxation from volume to content

Out of the 3, EC is only conceding that the last one is a tax.

If either of the other 2 are deemed a tax they'll need unanimous approval by all 27 EU governments - with likely veto by 🇵🇱. Hence "Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism".

EC insists this won't be an income generator.

But could the new ETS for cars & buildings also be deemed a tax? That's been the debate in 🇩🇪, which is the only EU country to have already established emissions trading for these two sectors.

There's lots of doubt if this new mini-ETS is a good idea.
energymonitor.ai/policy/carbon-…

EU Com President @VonDerLeyen: "Change on this scale I never easy, even when it’s necessary. For that reason here are some that say we should go slower. But when it comes to climate change, doing less or doing nothing literally means changing everything."

"There is no time to waste," says Vice President @TimmermansEU

"People are dying in NW Canada because it's 50 degrees celsius there. Siberia reaches over 35. We saw Tornados in the Czech Republic - who would have ever thought of that?"

"We don't have the luxury of denying this"

EU economy chief @PaoloGentiloni on carbon border mech:
"We're very proud of leading EU role, today we're confirming that. Of course early movers have advantages but also face risks. Risk here is what we call carbon leakage - production shifting to countries with lower standards"

Climate campaigners aren't reacting positively to main elements of today's package - notably putting a price on emissions from cars and buildings.

They say EC is letting industry off the hook and shifting the burden of fighting climate change to citizens.
friendsoftheearth.eu/press-release/…

This is all part of an ongoing disagreement over market mechanisms that goes back 2 decades.

The #EUETS forms the bedrock of today's #FitFor55 package. But climate campaigners have never been big fans of emissions trading. energymonitor.ai/policy/carbon-…

VP @TimmermansEU responds to EP Environment Committee chair @PCanfin saying #EUETS for cars is "political suicide" - saying it's "nonsense".

"I’m a politician, I’m not one for political suicide"

"I’d like to ask MEPs and others, look at the proposal before you judge it."

Timmermans: "We need to do something about housing and transport, and if you look at the instruments we have we've come to the conclusion [ETS] gives us the most opportunity to compensate those who need compensation and gives best incentive to energy producers to decarbonise."

"Transport is increasing its emissions" says Timmermans.

"If there was a proposal which did same thing but better we’d be open to that, but to date we haven’t seen that."

"Those who voted in favour of the climate law" and are complaining "have to come up with an alternative".