Europe’s Green Deal Seeks to Anchor Carbon Neutrality Into Law

(Bloomberg) -- The Europe Union’s planned Green Deal includes an ambitious goal of zero net emissions by 2050, according to a top Brussels official.

The plan under development aims to reach consensus among all member states to reach zero net carbon dioxide emissions by mid-century, said Klaus-Dieter Borchardt, the European Commission’s deputy director general for energy policy. Under the leadership of Ursula von der Leyen, the world’s biggest trading bloc is trying to redouble efforts to kick-start lackluster progress in cutting emissions.

“Frankly, it won’t be easy to make such a goal legally binding,” said Borchardt in an interview on Tuesday in Munich. “Some Eastern European states need a great deal of adjustment but they’re not saying flatly no -- the way forward is to be non-ideological, work with what’s possible, it’s a task of decades.”

Poland, Estonia, the Czech Republic and Hungary have so far balked at approving the initiative, leaving the number of states that have signaled readiness to anchor carbon neutrality into law at 24, according to Borchardt. The executive could begin to woo doubters once the new commission is up and running in November, he said.

The four eastern countries stymied a move at a EU summit in June to win endorsement of the climate neutrality goal, leaving a potential new move to secure backing until a new commission entered office this month.

Polish Prime Mateusz Morawiecki in June said his government wasn’t ready to endorse the proposal that’s being led by western partners including Germany, France, Sweden and the Netherlands. Morawiecki said Poland needed “very detailed conditions of potential compensation mechanisms” for member states.

Coal still accounts for three-quarters of Poland’s power generation and about half of the Czech Republic’s output, shoring up a prime role for fossil-fuel plants role in the countries’ greenhouse gas emissions.

Still, the heat is on for the new executive to push its climate agenda, said Borchardt, a lawyer by training and a German native. The 28-state EU has set a goal to cut CO2 output by 40% by 2030 compared with 1990 levels. By next year, the bloc may achieve a total 26% reduction, according to a forecast from the European Environment Agency.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Parkin in Berlin at bparkin@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net, Jonathan Tirone, Rob Verdonck

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