MEPs formally approved an unprecedented package of six new climate and energy laws in Strasbourg on Wednesday. A year of intense negotiations was wrapped up in a mere twenty minutes of voting. Over 550 MEPs backed the package, while fewer than 100 voted against. The package is designed to cut EU greenhouse gas emissions by twenty per cent by 2020 compared with 1990 levels, as pledged by European leaders at their spring summit in 2007. The EU will aim for a 30 per cent cut if other industrialised countries take on equivalent commitments in a new international climate treaty to be agreed at UN talks in Copenhagen next December.
MEPs formally approved an unprecedented package of six new climate and energy laws in Strasbourg on Wednesday. A year of intense negotiations was wrapped up in a mere twenty minutes of voting. Over 550 MEPs backed the package, while fewer than 100 voted against.
The package is designed to cut EU greenhouse gas emissions by twenty per cent by 2020 compared with 1990 levels, as pledged by European leaders at their spring summit in 2007. The EU will aim for a 30 per cent cut if other industrialised countries take on equivalent commitments in a new international climate treaty to be agreed at UN talks in Copenhagen next December.
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Despite persistent dissent from some MEPs to elements of the laws, the European parliament gave overwhelming support to compromise deals with governments on:
* a directive revising rules for the EU emission trading scheme (ETS) for its third trading period from 2013 to 2020;
* an "effort-sharing" decision setting national binding greenhouse gas reduction targets for non-ETS sectors in each member state, to be met by 2020 from a 2005 baseline;
* a directive promoting carbon capture and storage (CCS);
* a directive to ensure renewable energy makes up at least 20 per cent of the EU's total energy consumption by 2020;
* a regulation setting binding greenhouse gas emission limits for new passenger cars, to be phased in from 2012 to 2015
* a directive revising existing fuel quality rules and introducing a binding target for greenhouse gas emissions cuts from road fuels by 2020
The texts will now pass back to the council of ministers for a final approval step, after which they will be published in the EU's official journal..
First-reading agreements on three of the proposals - emissions trading, national emissions cuts and CCS - were reached with governments on Saturday. Full summaries of these agreements will be published by ENDS on Thursday.
The other three laws had been finalised in preceding weeks: renewables, car CO2 and fuel quality.
Reactions to the package were mixed. EU environment commissioner Stavros Dimas said the "environmental integrity" of the package had been "fully maintained". He reemphasised the point that the method for distributing carbon allowances in the ETS - over which there had been fierce political argument - did not affect the overall cap on EU emissions, which was never in dispute.
"This was my happiest day," he told journalists. "Wait a moment....my second happiest day - the first will be in Copenhagen."
ETS rapporteur MEP Avril Doyle said she was "extremely pleased". Rebel members of her group withdrew at the last minute controversial amendments countering her compromise text.
Ms Doyle repeated warnings that the rapid decision-making procedure used to agree the package should not be seen as a precedent. The Greens said the procedure of the vote on the day had "sidelined" democracy. Co-president Monica Frassoni called the package "a mixed bag of bright and dark spots". The Greens were especially critical of the effort-sharing and CCS texts. Green MEP Satu Hassi, rapporteur on effort-sharing, said these were "far from being enough compared to what science tells us to do, but it's a start."
Environmentalists were unhappy. Greenpeace said Europe had forfeited its role as climate leader and WWF called it a "poisoned" deal. BusinessEurope welcomed "an improved legal framework" but said companies would "struggle with higher costs".
- Follow-up: European parliament, tel: +32 2 284 2111, plus press release and background note. See reactions from the European commission (with links to background memos), EPP chairman Joseph Daul and Doyle, Alde, The Greens with comments from Hassi and Lucas, Acea, BusinessEurope, EU rail sector, Greenpeace, WWF and Eurochlor.
This article is reproduced with kind permission of ENDS Europe DAILY .
For more daily news and articles, please visit the ENDS Europe DAILY website.
