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Consultation on the preparation of a legislative proposal on the effort of Member States to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to meet the European Union's greenhouse

Details

Status
Closed
Opening date
Deadline

Target audience

Please find information in Target group(s) section.

Why we are consulting

Title

Consultation on the preparation of a legislative proposal on the effort of Member States to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to meet the European Union's greenhouse gas emission reduction commitment in a 2030 perspective

(This consultation addresses the Effort Sharing Decision. A separate public consultation "Addressing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and land use, land use change and forestry in the context of the 2030 EU climate and energy framework" is organised at the same time.)

Policy field(s)

Climate Action

Target group(s)

All citizens and organisations are welcome to contribute to this consultation. Contributions are particularly sought from Member States Governments, Regional Governments, stakeholders of the concerned sectors, NGOs, and research institutions.

Period of consultation

From 26 March 2015 to 18 June 2015

Objective of the consultation

The European Commission today launches a public consultation on the preparation of a legislative proposal on the effort of Member States to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to meet the European Union's greenhouse gas emission reduction commitment in a 2030 perspective. It concerns the continuation in the period 2021-2030 of the current Decision 406/2009/EC on the effort of Member States to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to meet the Community's greenhouse gas emission reduction commitments up to 2020 (Effort Sharing Decision, ESD).

The Effort Sharing Decision sets greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for each Member State for the sectors not covered by the EU Emissions Trading System. Its scope currently covers some 55 % of total greenhouse gas emissions in the EU and includes greenhouse gas emissions from sources such as CO2 emissions from road transport, heating of buildings, small-scale industry and so-called non-CO2 emissions from agriculture and waste. The ESD does not include emissions or removals from land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF). Each Member State has an emission reduction or limitation commitment for 2020 under this Decision which varies between -20% and +20% as compared to its 2005 GHG emissions. Taken together, these commitments correspond to an EU-wide reduction in 2020 of around 10% compared to 2005 for the sectors covered by the ESD.

The overall objective of the ESD is to achieve its contribution to the EU's overall 20% reduction target in 2020 and to promote reductions of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) within its scope in a cost-effective manner.

In addition to the 2020 targets, the ESD establishes binding annual GHG emission limits — so-called annual emission allocations (AEAs) — for all Member States for the period 2013–2020 with annual reporting obligations and compliance checks.

At the European Council meeting in October 2014, EU leaders expressed their wish to continue the ESD approach for the period 2021-2030, with the aim to reduce emissions in the non-ETS sectors by 2030 by 30% compared to 2005 as the contribution in implementing the overall economy wide emission reduction target of at least 40% in 2030 as compared to 1990.

The consultation launched today aims to collect evidence, experiences, suggestions and opinions related to the post-2020 design of the ESD itself and focuses on several issues, including

  1. the flexibility mechanisms foreseen is the ESD to ensure overall cost efficiency,
  2. monitoring, reporting and compliance,
  3. the approach to setting the national greenhouse gas reduction targets in the ESD and
  4. complementary EU-wide action to achieve the reduction targets.

It also asks for stakeholder feedback on the ongoing implementation of policies and measures in Member States to achieve their targets set out in the current Effort Sharing Decision that sets national targets until 2020.

This consultation is addressed at citizens, authorities and other stakeholders and seeks input on questions concerning the policy alternatives to be considered by the European Commission in its preparation of a legislative proposal to revise and maintain the ESD after 2020. It complements earlier consultations that the European Commission has conducted recently, notably the Consultation on the Green Paper on a 2030 framework for climate and energy policies.

This consultation is launched in parallel with the consultation "Addressing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and land use, land use change and forestry in the context of the 2030 EU climate and energy framework", which addresses the question on how to integrate Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry into the 2030 Climate and Energy Framework, how it relates to agricultural non-CO2 emissions and how it will impact the Effort Sharing Decision.

Background:

On 24 October 2014, EU leaders expressed their wish to work towards a domestic EU greenhouse gas emissions reduction target of at least 40% by 2030 compared to 1990 together with other building blocks for a 2030 policy framework for climate and energy, following a proposal by the European Commission in January 2014. The 2030 framework aims to make the EU's economy and energy system more competitive, secure and sustainable and also sets a target of at least 27% for renewable energy and energy savings by 2030, respectively.

The Commission has indicated in its February 2015 Roadmap for the Energy Union annexed to its Framework Strategy for a Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy that it intends to present a legislative proposal on the Effort-Sharing Decision for the period 2021-2030 and on the inclusion of LULUCF into the 2030 Climate and Energy Framework in 2016.

How to submit your contribution

In the interests of transparency, the Commission asks organisations who wish to submit comments in the context of public consultations to provide the Commission and the public at large with information about whom and what they represent by registering in the Transparency Register and subscribing to its Code of Conduct. If an organisation decides not to provide this information, it is the Commission's stated policy to list the contribution as part of the individual contributions. (Consultation Standards, see COM (2002) 704, and Communication on ETI Follow-up, see COM (2007) 127 of 21/03/2007)

If your organisation is not registered, you have the opportunity to Register now.

Received contributions will be published on the Internet. It is important to read the specific privacy statement attached to this consultation for information on how your personal data and contribution will be dealt with.

View the questionnaire
Reference documents and other, related consultations
Contact details

Responsible service: Directorate-General Climate Action - Unit C1

E-mail: CLIMA-ESD-2030atec [dot] europa [dot] eu (CLIMA-ESD-2030[at]ec[dot]europa.e) CLIMA-ESD-2030atec [dot] europa [dot] eu (u)

Postal address:

European Commission
Directorate-General Climate Action
BU24 1/84
B-1049 Bruxelles
Belgium
View the contributions
  • Contributions (in ZIP format) (The integrated unzip utility available since windows 98 with the Plus! pack doesn't support the full ZIP specification. Please use any other unzip tool.)
Results of consultation and next steps

The analysis of the contributions will be presented as part of the Impact Assessment.

Protection of personal data Specific privacy statement

Respond to the consultation

The response period for this consultation has ended. Thank you for your input.