Peter Liese: The Council text contains significant concessions on both sides, but we must now work together in the middle / Improvements needed on the quality of international certificates / Under no circumstances should the Climate Law strengthen our strategic competitors such as China

The Environment Committee of the European Parliament has adopted by a large majority (55 to 32) an amendment to the Climate Law concerning the 2040 target. The Members of the European Parliament essentially endorsed the proposal agreed by the Environment Ministers last Wednesday, with two notable modifications. MEPs insist that certificates from third countries recognised for European climate protection must be of high quality and that related financial flows must not contradict the strategic interests of the EU.

“In the past, highly climate-damaging gases, the so-called F-gases, were produced in China solely to be destroyed afterwards, because their destruction generated climate protection certificates in Europe. Such a situation must never happen again,” said Peter Liese, environment spokesperson for the largest political group in the European Parliament (EPP-Christian Democrats).

Otherwise, Liese praised the Council compromise as the best possible outcome. “For us as the EPP, the text includes major progress: technology neutrality in road transport, including the recognition of biofuels; an amendment of ETS 1 to continue providing certificates to industry after 2039; the inclusion of negative emissions in the ETS; and a more cautious phase-out of free allowances, all long-standing EPP priorities. For me personally, the postponement of ETS 2 is a bitter pill, but in the spirit of compromise I have accepted it. Now all sides must move and make concessions. We must work together in the middle. If the plenary votes on Thursday in the same way as the Environment Committee, this will be an important signal for the climate conference that has just started in Belém,” Liese concluded.