The European Commission yesterday proposed a binding target to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 90% by 2040, compared to 1990 levels, meeting with mixed reactions in the Czech Republic.
The sub-target is intended to ensure that the main stated goal of the EU-27, of carbon neutrality by 2050, is achieved. The EU also has a target to reduce emissions by 55% by 2030 compared to 1990.
According to the Commission, setting a goal for 2040 will provide certainty for investors, drive innovation, strengthen the industrial leadership of European companies, and increase Europe’s energy security. It will also enhance the predictability and stability that investors and businesses need in the EU’s transition to clean energy. However, the Czech Republic and some other EU states had expressed reservations about the target and called for it to be postponed.
After a cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) said the Czech Republic does not agree with setting another climate target, as it is necessary to prioritise “prosperity and economic aspects”.
“We have already set climate targets,” said Fiala. “We need to meet them in a reasonable way and perhaps even adjust some things that we may have agreed on in the past in some way so as not to jeopardise Europe’s competitiveness.”
Fiala said that EU states will still be close to 90% without the targets, although probably not completely across Europe. On the contrary, he argued, some policies need to be corrected and “adapted to reality”, so that citizens do not face more expensive housing or fuel.
Environment Minister Petr Hladik (KDU-CSL) also said that the proposal for a binding emissions reduction target by 2040 was not realistic for the Czech Republic.
“We want to know the specific impacts on individual sectors,” he wrote on social media. “Emissions reduction is necessary, we support it and we are succeeding in it, but without realistic conditions and fair financing, transformation is not possible.”
However, Czech environmental organisations welcomed the Commission’s proposal, telling CTK that it provides the needed predictability for companies and the public sector to invest in decarbonisation.
The Partnership Foundation described the proposal as a logical step between the goal of reducing emissions by 55% by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050, allowing a greater degree of predictability, especially for the business sector.
The Friends of the Earth (Duha) movement stressed the importance of taking the next step to reduce dependence on fossil fuels in the days when Europe is being hit by a heatwave.
“Setting predictable, long-term steps is the key to seizing these opportunities in the Czech Republic to modernise our economy and reduce the costs we pay daily for fuel imports,” said Eva Pernicova, spokesperson for the Friends of the Earth.
The Commission’s proposal also allows EU states for the first time to use carbon credits (emission allowances) from developing countries to meet their emissions targets, which was also welcomed by the Partnership Foundation.
“Czech soil has a huge potential to help us mitigate climate change, but we need to be able to motivate farmers, municipalities and landowners to make investments in landscape measures pay off,” said David Kopecky on behalf of the Foundation. “From this perspective, instruments such as carbon credits and carbon sinks are welcome and necessary.”
The Friends of the Earth movement noted that the Czech Republic has the lowest share of renewable sources in electricity production in the EU, and also lags behind in reducing energy consumption or transforming transport.
Yesterday’s proposal from the Commission is based on an in-depth impact assessment and recommendations from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the European Scientific Advisory Committee on Climate Change. It must be approved by member states and the European Parliament.
Previous EU climate targets also required unanimous approval by EU heads of state and government at the European Council. However, the EU summit discussion will now miss the deadline, according to CTK, because the Danish presidency would like to have approval for the proposal on the table at a meeting of EU environment ministers in September, while the next European Council summit is not due until the end of October.
