The European Commission
proposed
on Wednesday enshrining the European Green Deal’s commitment for carbon
neutrality by 2050 into legislation, as part of the European Union’s
heightened focus on climate action and policy.
Under a European Climate
Law, the 2050 carbon neutrality target would become legally binding, and
all EU institutions and member states will be collectively bound to
take the necessary measures at EU and national level to meet that
target.
The Climate Law would enshrine into law the EU’s
political pledge to become climate neutral by 2050, the Commission said,
noting that the proposed law is a crucial part of the
European Green Deal, which the EU’s executive arm proposed at the end of last year.
“We
are acting today to make the EU the world’s first climate neutral
continent by 2050,” the European Commission President Ursula von der
Leyen said in a statement on Wednesday.
“The Climate Law is the
legal translation of our political commitment, and sets us irreversibly
on the path to a more sustainable future. It is the heart of the
European Green Deal. It offers predictability and transparency for
European industry and investors. And it gives direction to our green
growth strategy and guarantees that the transition will be gradual and
fair,” von der Leyen noted.
Note EU-Digest: In the meantime yesterday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed to
expand the scope of its already dangerous plan to limit the science the
agency can consider when developing critical public health and
environmental safeguards.
EPA’s original “Censored Science” proposal, released in April 2018 by
former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, would effectively bar the agency
from considering critical research when making decisions around
protecting human health and the environment. The newly-released supplemental proposal
would apply these restrictions to an even wider array of scientific
studies, further imperiling EPA’s ability to protect our health and
ecosystems from environmental harms including climate change, air
pollution, water pollution and other toxic chemical exposures.
Read more at: Europe Looks To Pass 2050 Net Zero Carbon Goal Into Law | OilPrice.com
