GENEVA
Negotiators from the European Parliament and EU states have agreed that the bloc should use at least 11.7% less energy by 2030.
This was announced by the Council of member states on Friday in Brussels. and the reference value is a forecast from 2020.
But before the new targets can come into force, the formal approval of the EU Parliament and the EU countries is still needed.
Each EU country must contribute to the savings targets and a specific formula is to be used to calculate the national contributions, according to the announcement.
A deviation of up to 2.5% from individual countries will be possible, however, if the combined national contributions are not enough, the EU Commission can ask individual countries to do more.
“Those who dawdle get homework,” tweeted German MEP Jutta Paulus (Greens), who negotiated for the EU Parliament. According to Paulus, the agreement will save the equivalent of Spain’s entire energy consumption.
The parliament’s chief negotiator Niels Fuglsang spoke of “real change to the benefit of the climate and to the detriment of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin.”
On Thursday, EU countries committed to phasing out fossil fuels ahead of the UN Climate Summit (COP28) that will be held in Dubai on Nov. 30-Dec. 12.
Representatives of the 27 EU member states approved a text Thursday that said the EU will promote and call for a global transition to fossil fuel-free energy systems well before 2050.
At the COP28 summit in Dubai, nearly 200 countries will try to step up efforts to curb climate change.
Some countries hope to finalize a global agreement to phase out not only coal use, as agreed at previous UN climate talks, but also oil and gas.
