Climate of Cooperation

This executive summary by Ember outlines a report by Sandbag regarding the Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR), which governs greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, buildings, and transport. The document argues that the agreed ESR reform is insufficient to meet the EU's 2030 climate targets and suggests that project-based cooperation between Member States is necessary to achieve cost-effective reductions and align with the Paris Agreement.

• The agreed reform of the Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR) is insufficient to meet the EU's 2030 climate goals. When accounting for all flexibilities, the EU28 only needs to achieve an additional 14 Mt CO2 in annual reductions beyond current measures, which is approximately 0.5% of 2005 emissions. Consequently, Member States would only be required to reduce non-ETS emissions by 26.6% by 2030, falling short of the agreed -30% target.
• To be compatible with the Paris Agreement and the long-term goal of 80% to 95% reductions by 2050, the 2030 target for non-ETS sectors must be tightened to at least -40% compared to 2005 emissions.
• Project-based cooperation allows higher-income Member States with stringent targets to finance cost-effective reductions in lower-income Member States. This mechanism addresses the lack of incentives for lower-income states to unlock their full reduction potential and provides a way to achieve the -30% target without relying on flexibilities that increase the overall carbon budget.
• The potential demand for Annual Emission Allowances (AEAs) is estimated between 75 million and 644 million, primarily from smaller, higher-income Member States. While potential supply for 2021-2030 is only 96 million AEAs without additional reductions, it could reach 614 million AEAs if agreed sectoral policies are fully implemented and further reduction projects are unlocked.

APA

Ember (2018). Climate of Cooperation. https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/climate-of-cooperation

Chicago

Ember. Climate of Cooperation. 2018. https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/climate-of-cooperation.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Ember |title=Climate of Cooperation |date=26 March 2018 |url=https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/climate-of-cooperation |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ember2018climate, author = {{Ember}}, title = {{Climate of Cooperation}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2018}, month = mar, url = {https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/climate-of-cooperation}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }