EU climate neutrality progress must accelerate: ECNO report

The latest analysis from the European Climate Neutrality Observatory (ECNO) shows promising developments across 13 essential building blocks for a climate-neutral society and warns that the pace of progress towards climate neutrality needs to accelerate further ahead of the elections.

The second comprehensive check-up on the EU’s progress towards climate neutrality by the independent net-zero emissions monitor shows encouraging signs of progress in key sectors and cross-cutting areas.

Energy, industry and clean technologies are key areas where individual indicators show signs of improvement compared to last year’s analysis, but the overall pace of change is still too slow.

Showing promise across 13 essential building blocks for a climate-neutral society, the European Climate Neutrality Observatory’s analysis warns that the pace of progress towards climate neutrality must accelerate in the aftermath of the elections. It shows promising signs of progress in key sectors and cross-cutting areas. Progress is far too slow on road transport emissions.

Employment in the regions most affected by the transition is at an all-time high, with almost 1.7 million people now working in the renewable energy sector, a promising sign for a just transition in the future, ECNO said in a statement.

ECNO noted that further action is needed in particular on road transport emissions, where progress is still too slow and policy changes are insufficient.

An urgent turnaround in finance and carbon removal is needed. The response to the 2022-23 energy crisis has directed public money toward short-term relief rather than long-term resilience, which has increased subsidies for fossil fuels. The rate of carbon removal has slowed as efforts to restore and plant new forests have slowed, it noted.

ECNO experts call for a strong implementation of recently agreed EU policies at Member State level in all areas to accelerate progress.

In a report published today, the European Climate Neutrality Observatory (ECNO) says that EU climate action continues to bear fruit, with overall trends positive, especially in renewable energy, clean technology and just transition. The development of the necessary climate governance systems is also progressing at a rapid pace.

While all 13 core blocks remain in the same progress classification (wrong direction, far too slow, too slow or on track) as in the first ECNO assessment published in 2023, progress is promising across a number of individual indicators as well as across new and revised policies.

Of the 124 indicators measuring progress towards key objectives and drivers within each module, three-quarters are heading in the right direction, 19 are on track, 25 are going too slowly and 31 are way too slow.

There is a lack of relevant data for 27 indicators, while 22 are heading in the wrong direction. Ten have improved their rankings since last year, while three have deteriorated.

The results also underline the need for the EU to accelerate climate action in this critical decade to achieve the legally enshrined objective of climate neutrality by 2050.

In the wake of the European Parliament elections, in which centrist parties maintained their majority despite shifting to the right, the report warns that rolling back, delaying or weakening policy action and its implementation will damage public confidence in the transition and weaken the EU’s ability to deliver on its broader goals of social equality.

Fibre2Fashion Press Office (DS)