Energy Transition Handbook - Flipbook - Page 12
Hogan Lovells
12
EU green deal and UK net zero
Net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions The immediate impact of the deal is to increase the
In June 2019, the UK Government passed
legislation amending the Climate Change Act
2008, committing the UK to net zero GHG
emissions by 2050. In doing so, it became the first
major economy in the world to pass laws to end its
contribution to global warming by 2050. The new
legislation increased to 100% the UK’s previous
target of achieving an at least 80% reduction in
GHGs from 1990 levels by 2050. Since passing this
legislation, the UK Government has announced
a HM Treasury Net Zero Review. This included a
priority to ensure a fair balance of contributions
from all those who will benefit, including
considering how to reduce costs for low income
households. The Review will also consider how
to avoid offshoring emissions i.e. how to reduce
UK emissions without causing those emissions
to be created by another country. A final report is
expected in Autumn 2020.
In December 2019, the EU outlined its European
Green Deal to become the world’s first climateneutral continent by 2050. The European Green
Deal was described as “Europe’s man on the moon
moment,” by Ursula von der Leyen, the President
of the European Commission.
EU’s GHG emission reductions target for 2030
from 40% to 50-55%.
It’s been described as “a new EU growth strategy”
implementing the EU’s sustainable development
goals. It targets a just and socially fair transition
through a “Just Transition Mechanism” to leave no
individual or region behind. This was of particular
importance to, for example, coal producers in
Poland, Czech Republic and Germany.
The European Green Deal sets out a roadmap
of initial policies and measures in which no
sector is off limits and in which all policy levers
are available.
It recognises that the transition needs to maintain
EU security of supply and competitiveness
(the EU is responsible for 10% of global GHG
emissions), provide certainty for investors and
that there may be a need to revise relevant State
aid rules in light of the policy objectives of the
European Green Deal.
The European Green Deal intends to bring forward
the first European ‘Climate Law’ to enshrine the
2050 climate neutrality objective in legislation and
ensure that all EU policies and sectors contribute.
In brief the European Green Deal commits to:
Key areas of focus include:
•
net zero GHG emissions (against current EU
policies that will only reduce GHG emissions
by 60% by 2050)
•
clean, affordable and secure energy
•
a clean and circular economy
•
building and renovating in an energy
and resource efficient way
• Production and use of energy,
which accounts for more than 75% of the EU’s
GHG emissions, targeting renewables, the
phasing out of coal, the decarbonising of gas
and the exclusion of new gas interconnectors,
transmission and distribution projects from
its future lists of projects of common interest
(PCIs), amongst other measures
•
a zero pollution ambition (air, water, soil,
and consumer products)
•
accelerating the shift to sustainable and
smart mobility
•
preserving and restoring ecosystems
and biodiversity, and
•
an environmentally friendly food system
• EU industry, which accounts for 20%
of the EU’s GHG emissions, targeting
an EU industrial strategy to address
the twin challenge of the green and digital
transformation and European Commission
support for clean steel breakthrough
technologies leading to zero-carbon
steel making