The Minister of the Environment, João Pedro Matos Fernández, in a statement, “warmly” welcomed the “”last step”” taken by the Council with a view to adopting the “first climate law that enshrines in legislation the goal of climate neutrality”.
Matos Fernandez confirms that “agreeing on European climate law was a priority for the Portuguese presidency and I am glad that we succeeded in exceeding the goal.”
With the approval of the Council of the European Union, the European Climate Law was adopted, after the European Parliament also approved, last Thursday, the legislation.
It now remains for the text to be published in the Official Journal of the European Union for it to enter into force, which, according to European sources, should happen this Wednesday, as Joao Pedro Matos Fernandez travels to Brussels to sign the text in person.
The Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament’s negotiating team reached an agreement on European Climate Law on 21 April 2020.
The legislation in question has been identified as one of the main priorities for the Portuguese semester, and in particular the legislation in question expects Europe to become the world’s first carbon-neutral continent, by reaching climate neutrality by 2050, and is expected, as of that year, to produce negative emissions.
Although Parliament initially demanded that all countries achieve the goal of climate neutrality, the agreement reached between the Portuguese presidency and the European Parliament’s negotiating team stipulates that this goal be achieved collectively, allowing some member states not to achieve it if it is compensated by others.
The new legislation also provides for a 55% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 from 1990 levels, and establishes a new intermediate target for 2040, which will be set on the basis of an “indicative greenhouse gas impact budget”.
The text also provides for the establishment of a European Scientific Advisory Council on Climate Change, composed of 15 experts, which will oversee progress and assess whether European policy is compatible with the stated goals.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called European climate law a “law of laws” and described it as “at the heart” of the European Environmental Charter.
