In December 2019, the European Commission announced the European Green Deal. With this deal, the ambition was to bring the European Union (EU) in line with the commitments of the Paris Agreement.
The European Green Deal aims to achieve climate neutrality within the EU by 2050. New climate policies had to be put in place to achieve a modern and competitive economy without emissions.
Don't you know exactly how we cooperate in Europe? You are definitely not the only one.
The European Green Deal consists of many different laws, strategies and proposals. Some examples are listed below:
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The nature restoration law (June 2024) aims to take action to restore at least 20% of EU terrestrial and marine areas by 2030 and restore all ecosystems by 2050
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The critical raw materials act (March 2023) should ensure access to a secure, diversified, affordable and sustainable supply of critical raw materials
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The net-zero industry act (March 2023) focuses on scaling up the production of clean technologies
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The social climate fund (December 2022) should ensure that the energy transition takes place in a fair manner
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The repowereu plan (May 2022) is the joint European effort to take more action for affordable, reliable and sustainable energy
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The forest strategy (November 2021) aims to make forests contribute more to achieving the European Green Deal
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The climate adaptation strategy (June 2021) focuses on preparing for the consequences of climate change in 2050
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The chemicals strategy (March 2021) should achieve a toxin-free environment and competitive industry for chemicals
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The biodiversity strategy (October 2020) aims to restore biodiversity
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The farm to fork strategy (May 2020) should make food chains fair, healthy and sustainable
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The circular economy action plan (March 2020) is about the sustainable use of materials
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The european industrial strategy (March 2020) focuses on the digital and green transition in European industry
Curious to see the full list? Discover more here.
The European Climate Law sets out the goals of the EU Green Deal. It states that the EU must be climate neutral by 2050 and reduce its emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990. The law was proposed by the European Commission in March 2020 and finalized in May 2021 with the consent of the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.
The European Climate Law should guarantee that the transition to climate neutrality is irreversible, just like the Dutch version. It gives investors, citizens and governments more certainty. Every country and sector must reduce emissions until there are ultimately net zero emissions.
Member States must submit national energy and climate plans (NCEPs) for the European Climate Law. Every five years, the EU uses the NCEPs to see if it is on track to meet its goals from the European Climate Law.
In July 2021, the European Commission presented a major package of climate measures called 'Fit for 55'. This package focuses on achieving the 55% emissions reductions by 2030 as formulated in the European Climate Law.
Fit for 55 consists of several proposals. It includes both new proposals and revisions of existing policies:
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Increasing the ambition of the european emissions trading scheme (eu ets)
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Increasing the ambition of the effort sharing regulation (esr)
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Increasing the ambition of the target for land use, forestry and agriculture (luclucf)
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Increasing the ambition for the target for renewable energy in the renewable energy directive (red)
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Increasing the ambition for the target for energy efficiency in the energy efficiency directive (eed)
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Adjusting the tax system (energy taxation directive) to ensure the tax system is in sync with climate ambitions
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New target for the use of sustainable aviation fuel in the refueleu aviation initiative
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New target for shipping in the fueleu maritime initiative, namely a cap on the amount of greenhouse gasses that can be emitted per energy usage by a ship.
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The new carbon border adjustment mechanism (cbam) should ensure that imports of goods from outside the EU pay the same carbon price as products made within the EU.
Wondering what all these policy initiatives are? Click on the links and read more about them.
Do you think you know all the policies? Take the quiz below and match the policy with the correct description.
In the next chapter we dive deeper into what Fit for 55 means for Dutch climate policy
The Rutte-IV coalition agreement (January 2022) responded to the new European ambitions of the European Green Deal. The coalition agreement states the ambition to make the Netherlands a leader in combating climate warming. The coalition parties are striving to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees.
The cabinet is raising the emission reduction target to at least 55%. This is 6% percent higher than Rutte-III's 49% goal. To ensure this goal is reached, policies are being developed that should achieve about 60% emissions reductions by 2030. As there can always be setbacks, the Rutte-IV administration chooses to aim higher to build a margin for unexpected events. The target for 2035 will be 70% emissions reduction and for 2040 80% emissions reduction.
Fit for 55 had not been finalized at the time the coalition agreement was written. The coalition agreement did mention that climate policy would be recalibrated after the package was adopted.
The new European targets were important for Rutte-IV's higher Dutch climate ambition. The 55% target had already been announced in Rutte-III's coalition agreement, so it wasn't a big surprise it made the new coalition agreement. For Rutte-IV it was important that it became a shared European ambition before it could also become the goal in the Netherlands.
At first glance, it would seem that the 55% target of the EU and the Netherlands fit together seamlessly. However, as we will see in the next chapter, the European and Dutch approaches are not identical.
