First-ever European Climate Law adopted

The world’s most expansive binding law on climate was unveiled on 4 March. The first-ever European Climate Law is at the heart of the European Green Deal, a priority of the European Commission and adds to Europe’s declaration of a Climate Emergency in November 2019.

The European Climate Law will complement the existing EU policy framework and set a long-term strategy in order to reach the goal of climate-neutrality by 2050, by cutting emissions and increasing the removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere to reach net-zero emissions.

With this Law, the measures foreseen will become legally binding for all member states. However, the objectives are set to be achieved as a bloc-wide Union rather than country by country.

The European Climate Law is a big step for Europe to become the leading global actor in the fight against climate change.

As European liberals, we welcome the efforts of the European Commission to develop a long-term vision and strategy for a prosperous, modern, competitive and climate-neutral economy by 2050.

However, the European Commission needs to ensure that all Member States commit as soon as possible to the target of climate neutrality and that all sectors, such as transport and energy become fully decarbonised in each country. The Green Transition must not leave anyone behind, no matter in which corner of the EU.

The European Climate Law presented is ambitious; however, the EU needs to take further steps forward by presenting a comprehensive plan and trajectory for 2030, including a previous ambit impact assessment.

In order to make the Green Transition smoother, ALDE Party calls for the following measures:
• Strengthen the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS)
• Complete the single European energy market to allow free flows of renewable energy
• Propose a framework at the EU level to promote technical solutions for negative emissions
• Transitition to a resource-efficient circular economy which consequently will foster jobs, growth, and competitiveness
• Facilitate the production of zero-emission vehicles and phase out petrol- and diesel-fuelled cars in the EU by 2040

Find more about our proposals in the latest ALDE Party resolution: A Climate Policy that delivers on the Paris Agreement (2019).

The European Climate Law still needs to be approved by the European Parliament and National Ministers in the European Council in the coming months. In addition, the European Commission has also launched a public consultation on its European Climate Pact that will allow citizens and stakeholders to give their feedback.