The EU Council of Ministers today formally adopted five laws, including revisions to the bloc's existing emission trading system (ETS), the introduction of a new scheme covering building and road transport emissions, and the establishment of a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM).
EU countries also approved amendments to the ETS aviation directive and a regulation establishing a social climate fund. And countries adopted the regulation on the monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of ship emissions, expanding MRV to non-CO2 emissions (methane and N2O) from 2024 and including such non-CO2 emissions in the EU ETS from 2026.
The laws are part of the so-called Fit for 55 package, which is designed to bring EU legislation in line with its target to reduce its net greenhouse gas emissions by 55pc by 2030, compared with 1990 levels.
Only Poland and Hungary voted against the deal on the revised ETS. Poland said that the vast majority of the Fit for 55 package is based on an "incorrect" legal basis creating "dangerous legal precedence". And Warsaw recalled its "negative position to the entire Fit for 55 package that sets 'evalualistic' goals and ambitions significantly affecting the energy mix of the member states".
Hungary stated that it supports, and is "strongly committed", to the transition to climate neutrality and effective mitigation, but underlined the need to act "responsibly". Hungary, alongside Lithuania and Poland, raised concerns that the new ETS for road transport and heating emissions may be burdensome for European households and firms, especially in lower-income member states.
While voting to adopt the ETS revisions, Slovakia noted the "unusually short" transposition period of some provisions, causing "significant risk" of not being able to transpose the ETS directive within set deadlines.
Belgium and Bulgaria abstained from the vote.
The European Commission stated that the adopted CBAM plans had changed "significantly" in terms of the human resources required for implementation by EU officials. The commission fears it will not be able to respect the principle of "stable staffing" to implement CBAM and requires additional resources, notably mentioning "external assigned revenue accruing from the ETS".
The European Parliament formally adopted the five laws on 18 April 2023. The laws shall normally enter into force 20 days after publication in the bloc's official journal, to be expected before the summer.
