WHY THE EU MUST STRENGTHEN ITS CLIMATE TARGET Including in the Emissions Trading System

The document asserts that the EU's current target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 is incompatible with the 1.5°C temperature goal of the Paris Agreement. It argues that the EU would require double its per capita share of the remaining global carbon budget under current policies. The author suggests the EU should instead target at least a 65% reduction by 2030 and achieve climate neutrality by 2040. To achieve this, the briefing recommends reforming the EU ETS by rebasing emission levels to actual 2020 levels and increasing the annual linear reduction factor beyond the proposed 4.2%.

• The EU's target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 is deemed incompatible with the 1.5°C temperature goal of the Paris Agreement.
• Under current climate targets and policies, the EU would require approximately 40 GtCO2, which is double its per capita share of the remaining global CO2 budget (approximately 20 GtCO2).
• Independent assessments suggest the EU should increase its 2030 target: Climate Action Tracker recommends at least 62% below 1990 levels, the Paris Equity Check suggests beyond -65%, and Climate Analytics suggests at least -60%.
• The author proposes a more adequate climate target would involve reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions by at least 65% by 2030 and reaching climate neutrality by 2040.
• The current EU ETS proposal is criticized for allowing 1.572 MtCO2-e emissions in 2021, which is significantly higher than the actual 2020 emissions of 1.224 MtCO2-e.
• To align the ETS with 1.5°C pathways, the document suggests rebasing emission reductions to actual 2020 levels from 2023 onwards, which would reduce total ETS emissions for 2021-2030 to 8.6 Gt, even if the 4.2% annual linear reduction factor remains unchanged.

APA

Trio, W. (2022). WHY THE EU MUST STRENGTHEN ITS CLIMATE TARGET Including in the Emissions Trading System. Carbon Market Watch. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/WHY-THE-EU-MUST-STRENGTHEN-ITS-CLIMATE-TARGET.pdf

Chicago

Trio, Wendel. WHY THE EU MUST STRENGTHEN ITS CLIMATE TARGET Including in the Emissions Trading System. Carbon Market Watch, 2022. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/WHY-THE-EU-MUST-STRENGTHEN-ITS-CLIMATE-TARGET.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Trio |first1=Wendel |title=WHY THE EU MUST STRENGTHEN ITS CLIMATE TARGET Including in the Emissions Trading System |publisher=Carbon Market Watch |date=March 2022 |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/WHY-THE-EU-MUST-STRENGTHEN-ITS-CLIMATE-TARGET.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{trio2022why, author = {Trio, Wendel}, title = {{WHY THE EU MUST STRENGTHEN ITS CLIMATE TARGET Including in the Emissions Trading System}}, institution = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2022}, month = mar, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/WHY-THE-EU-MUST-STRENGTHEN-ITS-CLIMATE-TARGET.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }