War in Ukraine is driving demand for Africa's natural gas. That's controversial
NPR Online NewsJul 28, 2022
On Wed., after 16 hours of negotiations, EU member states reached an agreement on proposed laws to combat climate change and its impacts. The agreements will be further refined in later negotiations with the EU Parliament before becoming official.
The environmental ministers of the 27 member states agreed on five laws that will eliminate emissions from new fossil fuel burning cars by 2035 and will provide €59B to a fund to protect disadvantaged and impoverished residents from CO2 costs. They also agreed to cut greenhouse emissions by 55% by 2030, revising a 1990 previous agreement of 40%.
These agreements are just words with no real action. The 2030 target is arbitrary and will not be final until negotiations have concluded with the European Parliament later this year - and often energy efficiency is the first goal to be tossed. This sets a target but nothing is legally binding. European nations must step up, otherwise, this announcement is meaningless.
The EU is strongly committed to combating the effects of climate change, as shown by its support for UN programs and vigorous backing of the Paris Agreement. The member states' collaboration was successful in cutting emissions by 31% in 2020. This is a bold track record, and these proposed laws show that the EU is serious about leading the world in climate policy.