EU Commissioner: the EU is on track to become climate neutral by 2050

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In the discussion summarizing the results of the EU negotiations on the climate policy package, the Italian commissioner said: the separate emissions trading system covering buildings and road transport makes it possible to reduce the emissions of large industrial sectors. The revenues from the separate emissions trading system will be used to finance the EU fund that will help member states deal with the social impacts of the transition. “The new, separate emissions trading system for road transport and buildings will start from 2027. This could contribute to further emission reductions by 45 percent compared to the current situation by 2030,” Gentiloni stated.

Are social problems causing climate change?!

In his opinion, the poorest contribute the least to harmful climate change, yet bear the brunt of it. “It is our responsibility to prevent the most vulnerable from being disproportionately affected. That is why the member states will spend all of their revenues from the emissions trading system on climate projects and social management of the transition,” he emphasized. As he said, the fund that mitigates the social effects of climate change will deal with the effects of the green transition on vulnerable households, transport users and micro-enterprises, especially citizens living in energy poverty or “transportation poverty”, and will mobilize 86.7 billion euros between 2026 and 2032.

This is the opinion of the Hungarian representatives

Fidesz MEP Edina Tóth pointed out in her plenary speech: “We cannot put citizens in a more difficult situation by reducing emissions. We must prevent the additional burdens resulting from the Brussels regulations from being passed on to Hungarian families!” – he highlighted. In his opinion, “Due to Brussels’s failed climate policy, energy prices are already skyrocketing and inflation has run wild”. The adoption of a residential climate tax added as part of the EU’s emissions trading system could particularly adversely affect European families, including Hungarian families, and also endanger the long-term sustainability of the Hungarian utility reduction program, he pointed out. At the moment, utility bills in Hungary are the cheapest in all of Europe, so the introduction of this type of climate tax would exactly increase the costs of Hungarian households to the greatest extent, and this is unacceptable for us, he stated. The Fidesz representative believes that the costs of the green transition should not be paid by Hungarian households, but by the big polluters. “Instead of unrealistic ideas that hinder economic growth, we need real environmental and citizen-friendly climate protection measures!” – Edina Tóth concluded her speech.

Fidesz MEP Enikő Győri expressed her joy in her plenary comment that the climate protection package at least has an element that serves to protect European industry through the mechanism for offsetting the carbon intensity of imported goods arriving in the Union (CBAM). “This is a necessity, because the production companies are fighting for their survival in the midst of the war, sanctions and the protectionist measures of the United States,” he declared.
“CBAM is finally doing what should be the basic principle of a sensible climate policy: instead of the population and small and medium-sized enterprises, it makes the polluters pay, with the companies that produce cheaper in third countries and with lower climate protection standards. At the same time, I only hope that this will encourage we know our partners for the green transition, and the goods displaced from our markets will be sold in countries that are less sensitive to environmentally friendly production,” Enikő Győri pointed out. He asked the European Commission to take into account the EU’s competitiveness during the future revision of the CBAM, “not to limit imports from third countries unnecessarily, as it makes European production and EU exports more expensive”. Enikő Győri stated: “in addition, it will be necessary to examine the impact of the CBAM on EU exports. It is important that the international trade rules of the game are respected by the EU at all times.”

MTI