Costa welcomes 2050 carbon neutrality agreement
The Portuguese presidency of the Council of the EU and the European Parliament today reached a provisional political agreement to legislate on the European Union's climate neutrality target for 2050.
Portugal’s prime minister, António Costa, on Wednesday welcomed the interim political agreement on the European Union’s carbon neutrality target for 2050, considering it an unequivocal sign of determination to combat climate change.
The Portuguese presidency of the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament today reached a provisional political agreement to legislate on the European Union’s climate neutrality target for 2050
In a message posted on his personal account on Twitter, António Costa wrote that he was faced with another compromise reached in the trialogue on the first European climate law.
It is an unequivocal sign of the European Union’s determination to combat climate change and a good omen for the climate summit on the 22nd, he said.
According to Costa, the pandemic emergency [of Covid-19] did not make the climate emergency disappear.
“The pandemic emergency did not erase the climate emergency. May Earth Day inspire others to take action for a healthier and more sustainable world.” Costa added.
In a statement, it is said that the negotiators of the European Council [which Portugal chairs] and the European Parliament reached an interim political agreement that legislates the objective of climate neutrality of the European Union in 2050 and the target of a collective net reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (emissions after deduction of removals) of at least 55% in the year 2030 compared to 1990″.
We are satisfied with the provisional agreement reached today. The European Climate Act is the ‘law of laws’, setting the framework for EU climate legislation for the next 30 years,” the Portuguese minister for environment and climate action said.
“Today, we are proud to have laid the foundations for an ambitious climate goal that can rally the support of all. With this agreement, we send a strong message to the world – precisely on the eve of the Leaders’ Climate Summit on 22 April – and we pave the way for the Commission to move forward in June with the proposal of the climate package ‘Ready for 55’, said João Pedro Matos Fernandes, quoted in the same statement.
Concerning the 2030 target, the Portuguese presidency said that negotiators have agreed on the need to prioritise emission reductions over removals, introducing a limit of 225 megatonnes of CO2 equivalent to the contribution of removals to the net target.
