{"id":46942,"date":"2024-02-06T11:35:27","date_gmt":"2024-02-06T10:35:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/?p=46942"},"modified":"2024-02-06T11:35:32","modified_gmt":"2024-02-06T10:35:32","slug":"eu-climate-target-missing-end-to-fossil-fuels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/issues\/climate-energy\/46942\/eu-climate-target-missing-end-to-fossil-fuels\/","title":{"rendered":"EU climate target missing end to fossil fuels"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>European Commission scraps plans to cut farming emissions and stop subsidising fossil fuels<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Brussels<\/strong> \u2013 Leaked drafts of the European Commission\u2019s proposed 2040 EU climate target to be announced later today does not include dates to phase out coal, oil and gas, a gaping omission according to Greenpeace. Burning fossil fuels for energy accounts for <a href=\"https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/eurostat\/web\/products-eurostat-news\/w\/DDN-20230609-2\">around 75%<\/a> of all human-made greenhouse gas emissions in the EU.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-eu-unit-stateless\/2024\/02\/7beaa450-gp0stw7ky_medium_res_with_credit_line-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-46943\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-eu-unit-stateless\/2024\/02\/7beaa450-gp0stw7ky_medium_res_with_credit_line-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-eu-unit-stateless\/2024\/02\/7beaa450-gp0stw7ky_medium_res_with_credit_line-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-eu-unit-stateless\/2024\/02\/7beaa450-gp0stw7ky_medium_res_with_credit_line-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-eu-unit-stateless\/2024\/02\/7beaa450-gp0stw7ky_medium_res_with_credit_line-510x340.jpg 510w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-eu-unit-stateless\/2024\/02\/7beaa450-gp0stw7ky_medium_res_with_credit_line.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n<p>The Commission has also backpedalled on plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions from farming.<\/p>\n\n<p>The European Commission is proposing a target of 90% net carbon emissions reductions by 2040, based on 1990 levels. The \u2018net\u2019 target counts actual emission reductions together with attempted capture of emissions at the point of pollution and efforts to draw down carbon from the atmosphere.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Greenpeace EU climate campaigner Silvia Pastorelli<\/strong> said:<em> \u201cThis is about as meaningful as a target to prevent lung cancer without any plan to end smoking. It is blatantly clear that fossil fuels must be brought to a swift end if we want to avoid the worst effects of climate breakdown. The absence of a phase-out plan for fossil fuels, and even for subsidies, not only delays the climate action we urgently need, but will end up hurting people more.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p>Greenpeace is warning that the European Commission\u2019s plans still foresee a role for oil and gas in the coming decades, when the EU should be reaching climate neutrality by 2040 to be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pac-scenarios.eu\/\">in line with the Paris climate agreement<\/a>. The Commission also encourages a significant role for nuclear energy, which risks diverting funds away from projects that could bring renewable electricity online or cut energy waste quickly and cheaply, while nuclear plants run billions over budget and with many years of delays.<\/p>\n\n<p>Older drafts of the Commission\u2019s announcement, and recent <a href=\"https:\/\/climate-advisory-board.europa.eu\/news\/eu-climate-advisory-board-focus-on-immediate-implementation-and-continued-action-to-achieve-eu-climate-goals\">recommendations<\/a> from the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change, included the need to cut emissions from the agriculture sector and end subsidies for fossil fuels; both are absent in the latest <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/eu-eases-farming-demands-in-2040-climate-proposal\/\">leaked<\/a> announcement.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Greenpeace EU agriculture policy director Marco Contiero <\/strong>said: <em>\u201cFarmers are on the front lines of the climate crisis in Europe, dealing with droughts, fires, floods and landslides. But politicians ignoring scientific advice on helping farmers move away from overproduction of meat and dairy makes climate change worse and leaves European farming more exposed to extreme weather. Farmers are nature&#8217;s best allies, when the rules, markets and subsidies don&#8217;t force them into a desperate choice between industrial production or bankruptcy.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Contacts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Silvia Pastorelli, Greenpeace EU climate and energy campaigner<\/strong>: +32 (0)496 122094, <a href=\"mailto:silvia.pastorelli@greenpeace.org\">silvia.pastorelli@greenpeace.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Marco Contiero, Greenpeace EU agriculture policy director:<\/strong> +32 (0)477 777034, <a href=\"mailto:marco.contiero@greenpeace.org\">marco.contiero@greenpeace.org<\/a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Greenpeace EU press desk<\/strong>: +32 (0)2 274 1911, <a href=\"mailto:pressdesk.eu@greenpeace.org\">pressdesk.eu@greenpeace.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>For breaking news and comment on EU affairs: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/GreenpeaceEU\">www.twitter.com\/GreenpeaceEU<\/a><\/p>\n\n<p>Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network that acts to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace. We do not accept donations from governments, the EU, businesses or political parties. Greenpeace has over three million supporters, and 26 independent national and regional organisations with offices in more than 55 countries.<\/p>\n\n<p>EU Transparency Register: 9832909575-41<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>European Commission scraps plans to cut farming emissions and stop subsidising fossil fuels<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":46943,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,26,29],"p4-page-type":[14],"class_list":["post-46942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate-energy","tag-climatechange","tag-farming","tag-fossilfuels","p4-page-type-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46942"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46944,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46942\/revisions\/46944"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46942"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=46942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}