In March, the Commission opened the public consultation for the European Climate Law which is the first major realization of the New Green Deal. As part of this process, the European Commission is seeking the views of stakeholders to design climate action and share information to develop these new policies. The consultation period will run from 4 March to 27 May 2020 with the aim of adopting the law before November 2020.
This law will translate the European Union’s Green Deal commitments into law. The European climate law will enshrine the objective of climate neutrality by 2050 in European law and will set up the various financing funds. This Act sets out a greenhouse gas emissions reduction trajectory by September 2020. Thereafter the Commission will initiate a review of several EU regulations to ensure their compatibility with the climate trajectory. By June 2021 the Commission wants to re-evaluate the Emission Trading System (ETS) Directive, the Effort Sharing Regulation, the Energy Efficiency Directive, the Renewable Energy Directive and the CO2 Performance standards for Cars and vans. Public consultations for several of these regulations are already underway.
With the opening of public consultations, the Commission is seeking input from all stakeholders in order to guide its climate law. The Commission stressed the importance of scientific data and industry solutions in defining its action plan. Therefore, all companies related to the energy, environment, transport and other industrial sectors impacted by the revision of these regulations under the European Climate Law should be involved in the public consultation process in order to safeguard their interests.