New emissions targets for 2030 show progress but Member States can do more

The European Parliament’s Environment Committee has today voted to strengthen climate protection in Europe and has adopted a package that sets out targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by EU countries during the period 2021 to 2030.
 
The Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament has been pushing for more ambitious climate targets on the part of Member States, but welcomes the modest progress made. Greens/EFA environment spokesperson, Bas Eickhout, comments:
 
“Overall, this can be seen as an encouraging step towards tougher climate protection. We have been able to remove some of the loopholes available to countries in meeting the targets for 2030, but a number of techniques for bypassing the rules still exist. These continue to thwart significant progress on climate change, with individual EU countries attempting to create even bigger loopholes.
 
“This shows that a huge gap remains between rhetoric and real action when it comes to climate. While positive, this result is still far away from meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement established in 2015, which the EU was pushing for at the latest G7 summit. This is the case even without the Conservative bloc in the European Parliament being part of the deal.”