EU consults on 2040 climate target

The European Commission has launched a consultation on what greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction target it should set for 2040 and how best to achieve it.

The consultation sets out options ranging from a 65pc reduction — which it describes as "very low ambition" in the context of its current target of a 55pc net reduction in GHG emissions by 2030, compared with 1990 levels — to "very high ambition" of more than 90pc.

The document asks respondents to indicate the importance of various challenges arising from the transition and associated actions, including, but not limited to, new technologies and their research and development, green finance, carbon removals, energy efficiency, faster renewables rollout, and state legislation.

Policy review

The consultation also seeks views on a number of specific policies, including emissions trading post-2030. It asks whether the obligation to surrender allowances for carbon captured and used in non-permanent products should be maintained, with adaptations for hard-to-abate sectors and those requiring carbon feedstocks, as well as whether the policy should be extended to cover either some other sectors, all fossil fuel use, or non-CO2 greenhouse gases, and whether the EU emissions trading system should be linked to other emissions markets.

And the document puts forward options for the future role of the EU's proposed carbon border adjustment mechanism, such as whether all ETS-covered products should be progressively included in the mechanism, and if so whether their inclusion should be prioritised based on those producing the highest emissions, or those for which efforts to reduce emissions are the lowest.

It also asks whether the EU's effort sharing regulation should remain in place only for non-ETS sectors, continue to apply to sectors that will be included in the planned new ETS for road transport and buildings, be extended to all sectors, or if its national targets should be replaced by EU-wide ones.

And it considers the possibility of introducing a carbon price and carbon removals payments to the land use sector, and whether this price should be applied to farmers, food companies, fertiliser producers or consumers.

Technology development

The potential importance of the role of carbon removals in meeting the target is also covered in the document, as well as how much of a reliance should be placed on nature-based solutions in the land sector compared with industrial solutions such as direct air capture (DAC) or bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (Beccs). And it asks whether the overall "net" GHG emissions reduction target is sufficient, or if there should be a separate target specifically for carbon removals.

The consultation looks to examine the main barriers to carbon capture and storage (CCS) rollout, suggesting as possibilities public acceptance, the regulatory framework, the maturity or cost of the technology, storage availability, or economic signals such as the carbon price.

And it asks respondents what should be prioritised out of carbon capture for either fossil fuels, non-energy industrial sources or biomass, or DAC, permanent storage, carbon capture and utilisation, or clean gas and biochar.

The document also requests views on the relative relevance of various technologies to the transition, including, among others, demand management and response solutions, fossil fuels with CCS, geothermal, wave and tidal technologies, advanced biofuels, bioenergy, energy efficiency measures, biomass, biogas, existing nuclear technology, nuclear fusion, wind, solar, hydropower, hydrogen, electricity storage, Beccs, DAC, coastal and soil carbon sequestration, biochar, and ocean-based CO2 storage.

The consultation closes on 23 June.

By Victoria Hatherick