The European Commission’s legislative package called Fit for 55, published yesterday, aims to achieve a 55% reduction compared to 1990 greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
This reduction in emissions is essential for Europe to be the first climate-neutral, emission-free continent by 2050.
“The fossil fuel economy has reached its limits,”said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The draft includes a plan to expand the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), which for the first time would require companies to pay for fossil emissions associated with heating buildings in the form of a tax, thus taxing polluters more efficiently.
It also requires member states that 3% of public sector buildings would be renovated each year in line with energy efficiency targets. The commission also proposes an increase in the use of renewable energy in heating and cooling by an additional 1.1 percentage points each year, to set a benchmark of 49 percent renewables in buildings by 2030.
If the Fit for 55 proposals are adopted, freight and road transport will also be subject to emissions controls, while the sale of all new petrol and diesel cars will be banned in the EU in 2035.
Source: dezeen