Setting an ambitious EU climate target for the year 2040
Creators: name: Gibis, Claudia
name: Lanz, René
name: Purr, Katja
name: Weiß, Jan
Publisher: name: Umweltbundesamt
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Emissionsminderung
subject: Europäische Kommission
subject: CO2-Senke
subject: Interessengruppe
subject: emission reduction target
subject: European Commission
subject: greenhouse gas reduction
subject: carbon sink
subject: stakeholder
subject: Climate | Energy
subject: Sustainability | Strategies | International matters

description: The European Climate Law (ECL) mandates the European Commission to propose an emission reduction target for 2040 within six months following the first global stocktake referred to in the Paris Agreement, i.e. by May 2024. The ECL obliges the European Commission to take into account the latest and best scientific findings and to take the recommendations by the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change (Advisory Board) as a point of reference for setting the 2040 climate target. This recommendation was published in the Advisory Board's comprehensive report, published in June 2023, and advises a net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction by 90-95% for the EU by 2040, relative to 1990, corresponding to a 2030-2050 budget of 11-14 Gt CO2eq. The report provides extensive reasoning and scientific evidence how this target range was derived. The German Environment Agency (UBA) welcomes the timely publication of this report and urges the European Commission and European policy makers to follow scientific advice, aim for the most plausible climate ambition and set an intermediate domestic 2040 net GHG emission reduction target of 95%, compared to 1990. However, a discussion that focuses only on the final figure of the 2040 target would not adequately address the intricate nature of GHG reductions and the essential prerequisites for successfully achieving the target. Therefore, the proposal for the 2040 climate target needs to be supplemented with additional information by the European Commission, allowing politics and stakeholders to evaluate the ambition of different target options, to provide clear guidance on the architecture of the target, in particular regarding the relation of emission reductions and carbon sinks, and to address the burden sharing between sectors and member states. Moreover the 2040 target should not be understood as a single-year target only, but rather as a process of continuous ratcheting up of climate ambition with regular reviews and updates. Quelle: Bericht
description: The European Climate Law mandates the European Commission to propose a 2040 emissions reduction target by early 2024. In light of the latest report from the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change, the German Environment Agency follows suit and recommends adhering to scientific advice, aiming for the most plausible climate ambition, and setting a domestic 2040 net greenhouse gas emissions reduction target of 95%, compared to 1990.With this 2040 interim target in mind, the paper further discusses the interaction between emissions reductions and sinks, the implications for the current architecture of climate policy (consisting of the three pillars: emissions trading, effort sharing and ⁠LULUCF⁠ regulations)  as well as aspects of regular target reviewing and tightening.