Almost every EU country has missed a key climate plan deadline – POLITICO

Deficiency

Many EU leaders have called on the Commission to shift its green approach from introducing new rules to ensuring implementation of climate legislation passed in recent years. But the ball is now in their court, the EU’s executive body says.

“We have worked hard to agree ambitious, science-based legislative targets with the European Parliament and Member States,” said a Commission spokesperson. “Now it is time for national authorities to turn them into concrete plans.”

The NECP plans are intended to turn EU climate laws into national action and ensure the bloc meets recently adopted legal targets, such as using 42.5% renewable energy and reducing energy consumption by 11.7% by 2030.

The drafts, which have been submitted over the past year, have shown that most governments are not on track to meet their renewable energy commitments. Only eight countries – Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Spain – have put forward higher or legal targets, while three more – Croatia, Germany and Portugal – have almost met them. All the rest are expected to be below or “significantly below” their targets.

The EU’s executive highlighted these shortcomings in a note to EU energy ministers in May, saying the projects showed the bloc had only achieved 39 percent in renewables and cut energy consumption by just 8.8 percent. More broadly, the EU said the draft plans would only cut emissions by 51 percent by 2030, below the 55 percent threshold.

A key element of the plans is national emission reduction mandates for sectors outside the EU’s carbon market. Known as the Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR), the measure currently covers agriculture, road transport, buildings, waste and small industry.