Climate target and policy

Posted 4 years ago in topic Energy

With the agreement of 196 countries to the Paris climate agreement, a solid foundation has been laid for a global approach to the climate issue and the promotion of sustainable development. Entrepreneurs are happy with this, because for them there is no question that global CO2 emissions must be reduced. The European government leaders therefore rightly decided at the end of 2014 to also set high standards for the period after 2020 when it comes to new climate goals. It has been agreed to focus on a reduction of CO2 emissions by at least 40 percent compared to 1990, a doubling of the target for 2020. It has also been decided to come up with additional targets when it comes to renewable energy (at least 27 percent). ) and energy savings (27 percent less energy consumption) by 2030.

It has been agreed by the government leaders that if the UN climate conference in Paris at the end of 2015 shows that other major economies want to go less far than the EU, the policy can be revised. That's a sensible strategy. After all, the best guarantee for an effective solution to the climate problem is a global approach. It would be good if an ambitious climate agreement was concluded in Paris that could lead to a global market for CO2 emissions.

For the current European emissions trading system (ETS), the reduction path can only be tightened up if the system is first improved in such a way that the position of internationally competitive companies is safeguarded. In the Energy Agreement for sustainable growth, it has been agreed that these companies will be allocated free allowances based on real benchmarks and actual production, whereby CO2 costs will also be compensated in the electricity price.

In order to achieve CO2 emission reductions in other sectors, the EU must initially focus on source policy, such as the CO2 emission standards for cars. These types of measures encourage producers within and outside the EU to develop energy-efficient and climate-friendly products. Finally, the EU must come up with an integrated plan to make the internal markets for electricity and gas work optimally. The better these markets function, the lower the electricity and gas prices for consumers, the greater the security of supply, and the lower the costs of integrating renewable energy into the total energy supply. Distortions in the internal energy market resulting from national support for renewable energy must be removed.