EU's largest climate tool must be strengthened to deliver on Paris Agreement

Carbon Market Watch and Transport & Environment criticize a European Commission proposal for 2021-2030 emission targets, stating that 'flexibilities' regarding forestry credits and ETS allowances could reduce actual emission cuts from 30% to 27%. They further argue that basing starting points on average 2016-2018 emissions rewards countries failing to meet 2020 targets by inflating their carbon budgets.

• The European Commission's proposal for 2021-2030 emission targets includes 'flexibilities' that may act as loopholes, allowing countries to use 100 million tonnes of surplus EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) allowances and 280 million tonnes of forestry credits to offset emissions in sectors such as transport and agriculture.
• The use of surplus ETS permits and forestry credits is estimated to lower the actual emission reductions for non-traded sectors from a target of 30 percent to only 27 percent.
• The proposal is criticized for setting the starting point for emission targets based on average emissions from 2016-2018, which the authors claim creates an inflated carbon budget for countries that are not on track to meet their 2020 targets.
• The Effort Sharing Regulation, which covers emissions from buildings, waste, transport, agriculture, and small power installations not in the EU ETS, represents 60% of EU greenhouse gas emissions in non-traded sectors.

APA

Amaral, K. (2016). EU's largest climate tool must be strengthened to deliver on Paris Agreement. Carbon Market Watch. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2016/07/20/press-statement-eus-largest-climate-tool-must-be-strengthened-to-deliver-on-paris-agreement/

Chicago

Amaral, Kaisa. EU's largest climate tool must be strengthened to deliver on Paris Agreement. Carbon Market Watch, 2016. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2016/07/20/press-statement-eus-largest-climate-tool-must-be-strengthened-to-deliver-on-paris-agreement/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Amaral |first1=Kaisa |title=EU's largest climate tool must be strengthened to deliver on Paris Agreement |publisher=Carbon Market Watch |date=20 July 2016 |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2016/07/20/press-statement-eus-largest-climate-tool-must-be-strengthened-to-deliver-on-paris-agreement/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{amaral2016eus, author = {Amaral, Kaisa}, title = {{EU's largest climate tool must be strengthened to deliver on Paris Agreement}}, publisher = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2016}, month = jul, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2016/07/20/press-statement-eus-largest-climate-tool-must-be-strengthened-to-deliver-on-paris-agreement/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }