Tomorrow, the European Parliament is set to approve higher emission reduction targets to put all sectors covered by the Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR) on track to meet the EU’s climate goal by 2030.

To achieve the 2030 climate target, the Commission proposed in 2021 to increase emission reductions under ESR to 40%, up from 30%. The ESR sets national targets for road transport, heating of buildings, agriculture, small industrial installations, and waste management. These sectors currently generate about 60% of overall EU greenhouse gas emissions.

In the European Parliament and throughout the negotiations with the Council and Commission, the S&D Group put all its weight behind making the trajectory to reach the 40% reduction goal more ambitious. We have also fought to ensure all sectors, including agriculture, fairly contribute to emission reductions on a yearly basis. Since the transition must leave no one behind, we have managed to introduce a just transition within the scope of the regulation.

S&D negotiator on ESR, Javi López, said:

“We cannot afford to wait until late 2020s to start slashing emissions. Climate change impacts are so severe that we must hit the ground running in the race to decarbonisation.

“The S&D Group has pushed hard to incentivise EU countries to take early action instead of delaying the fulfilment of their reduction obligations until the latter part of the 2030 timeline. We have also limited the possibility for countries to use “flexibilities”, such as claiming emission reductions that happened in the past, in other countries, or in other sectors instead of real emission cuts.

“We have also ensured that fairness and social justice were at the heart of the regulation. With our push, all sectors will need to contribute evenly to our climate objectives and within the scope of the regulation we have introduced the need for a fair and just transition.”