The decision by the European Parliament amounts to a tightening of the Fitfor55 proposals introduced by Climate Commissioner Frans Timmermans two years ago. It has now become clear that EU countries will not meet their targets under the Paris Climate Agreement, and midterm adjustments are necessary.
With the newly adopted package of three environmental and energy laws, the European Parliament also responds to criticism that many climate laws had mainly targeted EU agriculture. Now, CO2 emissions from road traffic are being more strictly addressed, after shipping was previously included under the ‘climate regime’.
A decision on reducing air pollution from large livestock farms is expected later this week at a meeting of Environment Ministers.
The European Parliament has also set its position on energy standards for buildings. This will require EU countries to renovate and make old buildings more energy efficient. Dutch MEP Bas Eickhout (GroenLinks), who led the negotiations, expressed satisfaction with this outcome.
“Greening all buildings in Europe is a major challenge; at the same time, it is one of the biggest opportunities to address not only energy poverty but also our greenhouse gas emissions.”
The law aims to ensure that all buildings in Europe are climate-neutral by 2050. To achieve this, the proposal is to gradually raise the minimum energy label. In addition, over the coming years new housing construction will be prevented from installing gas boilers and stoves. Since housing developers and some EU countries are expected to raise many objections, the European Parliament proposes a phased approach.
Given the enormous benefits of energy-efficient buildings, GroenLinks wants the EU to allocate extra funds to realize this as quickly as possible and to make it as accessible as possible for low-income people.
Now that the Parliament's position is clear, negotiations with EU countries—which have already stated their positions—can begin. This is expected to lead to a final European law on greening buildings before the end of the year.