Concerns in the EU about the lack of public support for the new emission targets.
On Monday 25 March, the EU’s climate ministers met to discuss the Commission’s aim of cutting emissions by 90 per cent by 2040.
There was not much support for this at the first meeting, many highlighted concerns about the economy and the industry’s competitiveness. Concerns about a lack of popular support were also highlighted.
Popular support will probably be difficult to get, the question is whether it will only be farmers who protest if these goals are adopted, we wrote about this in February in this article:
Behind closed doors in Brussels, the European Commission is preparing new “green targets” – a 90 percent reduction in 2040, and out in the real world, farmers are demonstrating across the EU.
Even if the 2030 target is still “in the blue”, the European Commission plans to go even further in its emission reductions for 2040. They are now working on a proposal for a reduction of greenhouse gases of 90 percent compared to the 1990 level by 2040. These the new targets will be presented as new targets in May and then they will become part of the EU’s new/revised climate act. And the way Norway works, the law will certainly become the applicable law in this country as well.
The protests from agriculture have in recent weeks reached most countries in Europe and it is probably not only the farmers who understand that this is about something completely different from “saving the climate”.
Through many articles on steigan.no, we have demonstrated that “the green shift” cannot succeed and that Net Zero, i.e. zero emissions by 2050, is either impossible or will lead to the majority of humanity starving to death. We have also shown that those who benefit from this are financial capital.
This new proposal with a new “ambitious” target which will then presumably become part of the climate act is not to be believed.
Inside the offices in Brussels, there are politicians who absolutely do not listen to the people outside, but who take their orders from finance capital. It really is appropriate and long overdue to throw these out of their offices.
On Monday, the EU’s climate ministers met for the first exchange of views on the European Commission’s goal of cutting 90 percent of emissions by 2040.
The magazine TU writes about this meeting:
It was not expected that so many countries would flag any unconditional support at this first meeting. The tone of the two-hour long debate was characterized by concern for the economy. Several of the posts emphasized that the EU must be more concerned with the industry’s competitiveness.
In February, the Commission put forward a proposal that EU countries must cut 90 percent of their emissions by 2040, if they are to achieve climate neutrality in 2050. This proposal was the lower limit for what the European Commission’s scientific council believed was necessary to become climate neutral in 2050. The Commission has not put forward any legislative proposals to achieve this. That will be the task of the new European Commission. It is appointed after the elections to the new European Parliament in June.
They write further in the article:
In reality, there were only two EU countries that during Monday’s meeting of environment ministers really embraced the European Commission’s proposal to set a target of a 90 per cent cut in emissions by 2040. They were Denmark and the Netherlands. Many of the countries supported the idea of such a goal, but had several objections.
On the other hand, there was also no one who really warned against setting targets for emissions in 2040, with the aim of reaching climate neutrality in 2050. The climate targets are fixed, but the disagreement was more about which factors must be emphasized on the way there.
Sweden was one of the many countries that emphasized that economic growth is a prerequisite for reaching the climate goals. In addition, Sweden and France were two of the countries that most strongly emphasized the role of nuclear power in climate policy.
In the summary, TU writes this:
The EU’s Environment Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra summed up the debate by saying that he perceived that there was considerable support for joint ambitious goals, but that there were concerns about popular support, demands that climate policy must be socially fair and that competitiveness must be taken into account.
Climate Minister Alain Maron, who chaired the meeting on behalf of the Belgian chairmanship, also pointed out that there were different attitudes among the member states. He pointed out that several countries had warned that it could be more difficult to reach the proposed 2040 targets of 90 per cent, given the economic and geopolitical situation.
In addition, he also emphasized that several people were concerned about a lack of popular support and that many countries emphasized that the transition must be fair.
During the debate, the demand for a fair transition was put forward on two levels. Smaller and poorer EU countries emphasized that they needed support to implement climate measures, while others were more concerned that the EU had to protect groups that fall outside.
This was the first round of debate on the 2040 target. Both the Commission and the Belgian EU Presidency must now work further with the signals they have received, before the new emissions target can finally be adopted.
https://www.tu.no/artikler/eu-landene-bekymret-frykter-de-okonomiske-virkningene-av-klimapolitikken/545303
Cicero, center for climate research, held a climate debate at the Kulturhuset in Oslo on 19 March entitled: The EU’s new climate target for 2040: What does it mean for Norway?
Here there were introductions by:
- Why is it necessary and how is it possible to reach such high climate targets? Edgar Hertwich, EU Scientific Advisory Body on Climate Change.
- Climate targets as management tools in Norway and the EU, by Elin Lerum Boasson, CICERO and UiO.
- How does the EU’s green deal challenge Norwegian climate policy? By Merethe Dotterud Leiren, CICERO.
- How do the EU’s climate goals affect energy cooperation in Europe? Torbjørg Jevnaker, CICERO.
There were also comments from a panel of politicians consisting of:
- Nikolai Astrup, Energy and Environment Committee at the Storting, Conservative Party.
- Lars Haltbrekken, Energy and Environment Committee at the Storting, SV.
- Arild Hermstad, party leader, MDG.
The entire event can be seen here:
