Carbon Market Watch response to the EU consultation on the 2030 Effort Sharing Decision

Carbon Market Watch responds to the EU consultation on the 2030 Effort Sharing Decision (ESD), opposing the use of EU ETS and LULUCF offsets to meet non-ETS targets. The organization argues that such flexibilities risk reducing the EU's 2030 climate ambition and delaying necessary mitigation. Instead, it proposes enhancing transparency in annual emission allocation (AEA) transfers, introducing a central auctioning system for AEAs to support lower-income Member States, and implementing a project-based intra-EU offset mechanism for transformative projects. The response emphasizes the importance of early action and calls for a comprehensive package of EU-wide policies in transport, buildings, agriculture, and waste to ensure the 2030 targets are met without compromising environmental integrity.

• Banking surplus allowances from the first ESD period to the 2021-2030 period could significantly weaken the EU's 2030 climate ambition, potentially reducing actual emission reductions under the 30% target to as low as 16%.
• To prevent compliance risks and delays in mitigation, borrowing from future years should be restricted to 2% of 2005 emissions.
• Carbon Market Watch proposes a central auctioning system for a share of annual emission allocations (AEAs), estimating that auctioning 30 million AEAs annually could generate €9 billion in revenues between 2021 and 2030 to support lower-income Member States.
• The organization advocates for a project-based intra-EU offset mechanism focused on transformative projects, such as electric vehicle uptake and building renovation, suggesting that 10% of achieved reductions remain with the host country.
• The use of EU ETS allowances to meet ESD targets is strongly opposed because it could increase ESD emissions by up to 15% and overall EU greenhouse gas emissions by up to 5% during the 2021-2030 period.
• Allowing LULUCF forestry offsets in the ESD is viewed as risky due to carbon permanence issues and could potentially cut the ESD mitigation effort in half, leading to a 12% increase in EU greenhouse gas emissions.
• The document argues that the 2030 ESD must be accompanied by a comprehensive package of EU-wide policies, including CO2 standards for cars by 2025, a 40% energy savings target for buildings, and a phase-out of incineration in waste management.

APA

Carbon Market Watch (2015). Carbon Market Watch response to the EU consultation on the 2030 Effort Sharing Decision. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/ESD_consultation_CMW_final.pdf

Chicago

Carbon Market Watch. Carbon Market Watch response to the EU consultation on the 2030 Effort Sharing Decision. 2015. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/ESD_consultation_CMW_final.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Carbon Market Watch |title=Carbon Market Watch response to the EU consultation on the 2030 Effort Sharing Decision |date=18 June 2015 |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/ESD_consultation_CMW_final.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{carbonmarketwatch2015carbon, author = {{Carbon Market Watch}}, title = {{Carbon Market Watch response to the EU consultation on the 2030 Effort Sharing Decision}}, publisher = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2015}, month = jun, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/ESD_consultation_CMW_final.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }