Regulation 2023/857 - Amendment of Regulation (EU) 2018/842 on binding annual greenhouse gas emission reductions by Member States from 2021 to 2030 contributing to climate action to meet commitments under the Paris Agreement, and Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 111/1

The Paris Agreement (4), adopted on 12 December 2015 under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (the ‘Paris Agreement’), entered into force on 4 November 2016. The Parties to the Paris Agreement have agreed to hold the increase in the global average temperature well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1,5 °C above pre-industrial levels. That commitment has been reinforced with the adoption under the UNFCCC of the Glasgow Climate Pact on 13 November 2021, in which the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC, serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement, recognises that the impacts of climate change will be much lower at a temperature increase of 1,5 °C compared with 2 °C, and resolves to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1,5 °C.

The need for action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is becoming increasingly urgent, as stated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its reports of 7 August 2021 entitled ‘Climate change 2021: The Physical Science Basis’, of 28 February 2022 entitled ‘Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability’ and of 4 April 2022 entitled ‘Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change’. The Union should therefore address that urgency by stepping up its efforts.

The Union has in place a regulatory framework to achieve the 2030 greenhouse gas emission reduction target of at least 40 % that was endorsed, before the entry into force of the Paris Agreement, by the European Council in 2014. That regulatory framework consists, inter alia, of Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (5) establishing a system for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Union (EU ETS), Regulation (EU) 2018/841 of the European Parliament and of the Council (6) requiring Member States to balance greenhouse gas emissions and removals from land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF), and Regulation (EU) 2018/842 of the European Parliament and of the Council (7) establishing national targets for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 in the sectors which are not covered by Directive 2003/87/EC or by Regulation (EU) 2018/841.

The communication of the Commission of 11 December 2019 on ‘The European Green Deal’ provides a starting point for the achievement of the Union’s climate-neutrality objective at the latest by 2050 and the aim of achieving negative emissions thereafter as laid down in Article 2(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 of the European Parliament and of the Council (8) (‘European Climate Law’). The European Green Deal combines a comprehensive set of mutually reinforcing measures and initiatives aimed at achieving climate neutrality in the Union by 2050 and sets out a new growth strategy that aims to transform the Union into a fair and prosperous...