The European Union has launched a new plan to combat climate change

The European Union (EU) on Wednesday unveiled the most ambitious plan to date to combat climate change. The planned measures aim to transform the economic life of the EU Member States so that their daily lives will become more environmentally friendly in the next decade. One of the proposals is to eliminate cars with internal combustion engines by 2035.

Climate change is already affecting the whole world, and more and more often Europe is also experiencing extreme weather. Droughts, heat waves, heavy rains, floods and landslides are all rare.

Rapid climate change is also leading to rising sea levels, rising ocean acidity and declining biodiversity. That is why the European Union has come up with a dozen different proposals, which aims to make the daily lives of Europeans much greener. These include, for example, plans to tax aviation fuel, as well as a total ban on petrol and diesel cars for the next 20 years.

Thus, all new passenger cars registered in EU countries from 2035 will be zero-emission cars. To ensure that drivers can charge or recharge their vehicles on a reliable network across Europe, a network of charging and recharging points will be required on major motorways: every 60 km for electric recharging and every 150 km for hydrogen recharging.

The EU also plans to plant three billion trees by 2030.

These are the European Union’s most ambitious plans to date to combat climate change, and were unveiled in Brussels on Wednesday under the slogan ‘Fit for 55’. It symbolizes the goal of reducing emissions by 55 percent from 1990 levels by 2030. By 2019, emissions were reduced by 24 percent.

“The fossil fuel economy is at an end. We want to leave the next generation with a healthy planet and good jobs and growth that does not go beyond nature. Europe’s green course is our growth strategy, leading us to a decarbonised economy,” said European Commission President Urzula von der Leiena.

“Europe was the first part of the world to announce that it will be climate-neutral by 2050, and now we are the first to have a concrete plan.”

However, all proposals have yet to be approved by the Member States and the European Parliament. It is expected that their consideration, as well as various discussions, will take several more months. However, Brussels officials hope that the leaders of the countries will be united and determined.

“All Member States and the European Parliament are committed to complying with climate law. That is the law. It is legally required to have a reduction of 55 percent by 2030. To achieve this, action is needed now. You cannot say that we will look at it in 2029.

Our view is this: if you do not like it, come up with an alternative that will lead us to the goal, ”says Frans Timmermans, Vice-President of the European Commission.

The plans also include the idea of ​​a so-called carbon offset tariff, which would require producers from outside the European Union to pay more for imports of materials such as steel and concrete. More ambitious targets are also set for expanding renewable energy in all Member States. It is intended to require Member States to renovate non-energy efficient buildings more quickly.

CONTEXT:

European Green Course, presented by the Commission on 11 December 2019, sets the goal of making Europe the first climate-neutral part of the world by 2050. European Climate Act, which enters into force this month, reaffirms the EU’s commitment to climate neutrality and the achievement of an intermediate target of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.

Existing EU climate and energy legislation has already reduced EU greenhouse gas emissions by 24% compared to 1990, but the EU economy has grown by around 60% over this period, which means that growth is decoupled from emissions.

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