Forest, trees – illustration photo.
Strasbourg – Members of the European Parliament (EP) should today adopt new rules regarding land use and forestry, reducing emissions in individual member states of the European Union and revising the emission allowance market. Parliament already agreed on the wording of the rules with the member states and the European Commission (EC) at the end of last year.
Advertisement'; }
The trio of legislation is part of the “Fit For 55” climate package, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030 and make Europe the world's first climate-neutral continent by 2050.
The rules for the management of forests and land were agreed with the parliament by the representatives of the Czech Presidency of the EU Council last November. By 2030, the EU wants to use the standard to increase the ability of soil, forests and wetlands to absorb carbon emissions by up to 15 percent, to 310 million tons of carbon dioxide.
According to the agreement, each country will have its own binding target . For the Czech Republic, according to the Ministry of the Environment, the key in this regard is the restoration of forests, which, due to the bark beetle calamity, began to emit CO2 instead of absorbing it as before.
The second point of the vote today will be the agreement on higher targets for reducing emissions in individual member states in five sectors that are not yet included in the system of emission allowances, namely in road transport, heating of buildings, agriculture, small industrial operations and waste management.
The rules set stricter emission targets from the mentioned sectors for individual member countries, depending on the performance of their economies. Germany and the Scandinavian countries are to reduce emissions by 50 percent compared to 2005 by the end of the decade, other Western European countries have targets between 40 and 50 percent. With 26 percent, the Czech Republic is among the countries of the eastern wing of the union with the highest obligations, while Bulgaria has the lowest with ten percent.
This afternoon, MEPs should also vote on measures on the so-called market stability reserve, where 24 percent of all emission allowances as a solution to any imbalance between demand and supply in the allowances market due to external factors. The representatives of the EP and the member states agreed on this last December, when they discussed tightening and expanding the functioning of the market with emission allowances.
