WHERE COUNTRIES STAND ON THE EFFORT SHARING REGULATION – EUROPE’S LARGEST CLIMATE TOOL

The document evaluates EU countries' positions on the Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR), which covers 60% of EU greenhouse gas emissions. Using a scoring system across five categories—starting point, land use loopholes, ETS surplus loopholes, governance, and ambition levels—it ranks Sweden as the leader and Poland as the lowest performer. The brief argues that most EU countries are pushing for loopholes that undermine the Paris Agreement, with the European Commission's own proposal scoring only 20 out of 100 points.

• Sweden is the highest-ranked EU country due to its advocacy for closing legal loopholes and planning domestic emission reductions that exceed the Commission's 40% target.
• Poland, Italy, Spain, and the Czech Republic are identified as countries attempting to weaken the Commission's proposal, which hinders Europe's compliance with the Paris Agreement.
• Wealthy nations such as Finland and Austria are lobbying for the use of additional forestry credits to offset emissions in other sectors, despite having recently ratified the Paris Agreement.
• Ireland is criticized for attempting to stall emission reduction efforts for another decade by pushing to weaken the Commission proposal, despite only needing a 1% reduction by 2030 when flexibilities are applied.
• The European Commission's own proposal for the Effort Sharing Regulation is rated poorly, scoring only 20 out of 100 points, and is deemed insufficient to limit global warming to safe levels.
• The analysis identifies several critical 'loopholes' in the ESR negotiations: a misleading baseline (starting point), the abuse of forestry credits (land use loophole), and the exploitation of the EU ETS surplus.
• If the United Kingdom leaves the EU and the ESR, other EU countries may need to collectively cut an additional 100 Mt CO2 emissions to maintain the EU's Paris Agreement commitment of at least 40% domestic reduction by 2030.
• Poland is the lowest-ranked country, as it seeks to reduce its domestic 2030 target of 7% emission reductions and lacks a long-term climate target.

APA

Carbon Market Watch (2017). WHERE COUNTRIES STAND ON THE EFFORT SHARING REGULATION – EUROPE’S LARGEST CLIMATE TOOL. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/EU-Climate-Leader-Board-Where-countries-stand-on-the-Effort-Sharing-Regulation-–-Europe’s-largest-climate-tool_final.pdf

Chicago

Carbon Market Watch. WHERE COUNTRIES STAND ON THE EFFORT SHARING REGULATION – EUROPE’S LARGEST CLIMATE TOOL. 2017. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/EU-Climate-Leader-Board-Where-countries-stand-on-the-Effort-Sharing-Regulation-–-Europe’s-largest-climate-tool_final.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Carbon Market Watch |title=WHERE COUNTRIES STAND ON THE EFFORT SHARING REGULATION – EUROPE’S LARGEST CLIMATE TOOL |date=March 2017 |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/EU-Climate-Leader-Board-Where-countries-stand-on-the-Effort-Sharing-Regulation-–-Europe’s-largest-climate-tool_final.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{carbonmarketwatch2017where, author = {{Carbon Market Watch}}, title = {{WHERE COUNTRIES STAND ON THE EFFORT SHARING REGULATION – EUROPE’S LARGEST CLIMATE TOOL}}, institution = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2017}, month = mar, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/EU-Climate-Leader-Board-Where-countries-stand-on-the-Effort-Sharing-Regulation-–-Europe’s-largest-climate-tool_final.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }