European Parliament Approves Climate Law: World Needs to Follow

 

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The European Parliament (EP) in Strasbourg gave approval of three key formations of “Climate Law” which aims at reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 55 percent till 2030.

The approval includes an update emissions-trading system, a carbon border levy on imported goods and an 87 billion Euro ($95 Billion Approximately) Social Fund, reported by EU Observer.

The move is said to be a major step toward the European Union's wider goal of climate neutrality by 2050.

This shows a greater climate commitment and resilience by European Union towards goals like climate control, reduction of carbon emissions, development of climate policy and allocation of resources for this purpose.

It is also considered to be the major step towards the European Union’s goal of climate neutrality by 2050.

"Everybody will benefit from this."  A lawmaker, Peter Liese told the EU Observer, following the vote in Strasbourg, on Tuesday.

 

The major outcome of the legislation passed included the formation of Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, or CBAM. It aims at reduction of carbon emission, carbon leakage resulting from global trade emanating from emissions-intensive goods. It further adds certain following points:

a.     CBAM would allow governments to levy a tax on imported goods from countries that do not have similar emissions reduction plans in place.

b.     The revenue generated from these taxes would then be utilized to support domestic emissions reduction initiatives.

c.     The tax will also be applied to products such as imported metal, fertilizer, aluminum, cement, electrical energy technology and hydrogen etc.

The Social Climate Fund would be established as per legislative approval that will provide financial support to individuals and small companies of European Union’s member states. This will be helpful in transition to green economy.

Another update in Climate Law is the establishment of Emissions Trading System, a policy tool that allows governments to set a cap on the total amount of greenhouse gases that can be emitted by industry.

The lawmaker at the end appreciated the effort and termed it a game-changer. The rest of the world is required to follow the footsteps to fight climate change collectively. (Courtesy: China Daily)