EU Commission President: ‘Our current fossil-fuel economy has reached its limit’
The Wall Street Journal reports:
The European Union and China presented sweeping plans to limit greenhouse-gas emissions that will increase costs for industry and consumers, though they drew criticism from environmentalists as not going far enough to slow climate change.
The moves, while both long discussed and still months or years from full implementation, show a new urgency to regulate emissions in two of the world’s biggest economies. They come as the Biden administration promises its own bold initiatives but faces big obstacles in Congress.
Beijing and Brussels are also acting ahead of the world’s next climate-change conference, scheduled for November in Glasgow, Scotland, where the world’s biggest powers hope to hammer out new initiatives to limit emissions.
The EU on Wednesday proposed a broad economic overhaul that would sharply cut the bloc’s reliance on fossil fuels and place first-of-its kind levies on imports from high-emitting countries.
The import tax plan, which has been in the works for months, has already drawn condemnation from the bloc’s trading partners in the developing world and given an additional push to companies to scrutinize emissions throughout global supply chains.
The package of legislation, drafted by the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, ranks among the most ambitious plans yet by a major economic power to cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases such as methane that the majority of scientists say are causing the earth to warm. It calls for a massive shift by companies and households to cleaner technologies such as wind turbines, solar power and electric vehicles—including a requirement for the share of renewable sources in Europe’s energy mix to rise to 40% in 2030 from 20% currently. The plan aims to limit pollution across the European economy, including electricity generation, automobiles, housing, shipping and agriculture.
“Our current fossil-fuel economy has reached its limit,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “We know that we have to move to a new model.” [Continue reading…]