EU Climate Law Falls Short of Expectations -- UFOP: Climate Protection by Consensus and Motivating instead of Using the "Crowbar"

(Union for the Promotion of Oil and Protein Plants (UFOP)) The climate law presented today by the EU Commission does not meet the expectations of a previously announced, more ambitious climate protection policy. In order to achieve the net zero emissions target 2050, the conditions for achieving the climate protection target of 55% in 2030 would have to be created in the commitment period 2021 to 2030. These would have to be developed in agreement with agriculture and not enforced with the “crowbar”. This emphasizes the Union for the promotion of oil and protein plants. V. (UFOP) in a first evaluation.

Apparently, the EU Commission, with its communication for a “green deal” published at the end of December 2019, had raised expectations too high. This should be viewed very critically, especially since the UN climate summit will take place in London in November 2020 and the European Union - as announced in the "Green Deal" - must underline its pioneering role in international climate protection, UFOP emphasizes.

The climate law announces that the national climate and energy plans of the EU member states will be examined with a view to a higher target. It is regrettable, according to UFOP, that not all plans have been submitted in Brussels to date; Germany also belongs to the defaulting member states. The climate act primarily refers to the regulations of the governance regulation as a control instrument that is noticeable for the member states. It is absolutely incomprehensible the announcement contained in the draft that an "impact assessment" on the national climate and energy plans should only be made in September 2020 and only in June 2021 that the EU climate protection target be adjusted from 40% to 50% or possibly 55%. The European Parliament supports the higher target. However, achieving a more ambitious goal also means

UFOP underlines that if the EU climate protection target is increased significantly to 55% and a hard Brexit is expected, a greenhouse gas reduction gap of 360 million tonnes can be expected. After the Brexit, the requirements for emission reduction for non-ETS sectors assigned to the individual member states within the framework of the EU burden sharing regulation have to be recalculated and redistributed.

Therefore, within the framework of the announced revision of the Renewable Energy Sources Directive (RED II) and the guidelines for state aid assessment and approval of environmental aid, the restrictions on the use of cultivated biomass for energy use in the fuel and electricity sectors must also be reconsidered. Because the strictest legal requirements for sustainability measured by international standards apply not only in Germany or the EU, but also in third countries and thus also for biofuels or raw materials imported from there for their production. It is therefore absurd to allow this sustainable biomass potential to lie. According to the latest statistics from the Renewable Resources Agency (FNR), renewable resources are grown on an area of 2.3 million hectares in Germany.

With the Green Deal and the climate law presented today, the EU Commission, as underlined in the law, was supposed to initiate a strategy discussion with agriculture. The aim is not only to make a contribution to climate protection, but at the same time to increase the associated value creation potential for rural areas. This would be an example of a noticeable and acceptance-promoting bioeconomy strategy, UFOP confirms its demand. READ MORE