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Climate Action
News article12 March 2013Directorate-General for Climate Action

Commission welcomes approval of improved EU rules for monitoring greenhouse gas emissions

The European Commission welcomes the European Parliament's approval today of two new laws to improve EU rules on monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions, including those from forestry and agriculture. The laws now go to the Council for..

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The European Commission welcomes the European Parliament's approval today of two new laws to improve EU rules on monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions, including those from forestry and agriculture. The laws now go to the Council for adoption, after which they will be published in the Official Journal and will enter into force.

Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for Climate Action, said: "These new rules will help Europe develop robust evidence-based climate policies and keep better track of progress towards meeting our emission targets. They improve transparency, coordination and the quality of data reported, and forest and agriculture emissions will now be accounted for in a harmonised way. We hope that these new rules will also set an example in the context of the international climate negotiations and serve as a benchmark for transparency of climate action by other countries."

The so-called Monitoring Mechanism Regulation enhances the current reporting rules on Member States' greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in order to meet requirements arising from current and future international climate agreements as well as the 2009 climate and energy package.

The revised Monitoring Mechanism aims to help the EU and Member States keep track of progress towards meeting their emission targets for 2013-2020 and to facilitate further development of the EU climate policy mix.

The second law approved today establishes common rules for accounting for GHG emissions and removals of carbon from the atmosphere resulting from activities related to land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF). The decision represents a first step towards incorporating the forestry and agriculture sectors, the last major sectors without common EU-wide rules on GHG, into EU climate policy.

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Publication date
12 March 2013
Author
Directorate-General for Climate Action