News

Following the European Council's endorsement of a new and more ambitious target to reduce the EU's greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 from 1990 levels, the EU and its 27 Member States have formally submitted this target as their new nationally determined contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement.

A factsheet on the Paris Agreement and the EU's climate diplomacy is available online. For more information on the EU's international action on climate change, see here.

The European Energy Exchange (EEX) has published the 2021 EU ETS auction calendars. The auctions will start on 29 January 2021 with an auction by Germany. The auctions on the common auction platform will start on 1 February 2021 and will also include the volumes for the Innovation Fund and the Modernisation Fund. The first 2021 auction by Poland will take place on 3 February 2021.

The online launch event of the European Climate Pact on 16 December 2020 kicked off the EU-wide initiative inviting everyone to participate in climate action and build a greener Europe. Watch the recording from the event and read more on the Pact website.

Ahead of the Innovation Fund call for small-scale projects, a virtual conference on 19 November 2020 provided an opportunity to discuss how to bring small innovative clean tech projects to the market.

The 11th edition of the EU ETS Compliance Conference was held on 24-25 November 2020. Over 200 participants from nearly all EU ETS implementing countries participated in several knowledge sharing presentations and discussions around the central theme ‘Towards and beyond 2021’. The presentations are available for download.

As part of a contract with the European Commission, Vivid Economics organised an expert workshop on the Market Stability Reserve on 3 December 2020. The presentations are available for download.

Speech by President von der Leyen at the Climate Ambition Summit, 12 December 2020.

Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans’s lecture at Tsinghua University, 26 November 2020.

The European Commission has launched the second call for projects under the Innovation Fund, one of the world’s largest funding programmes for the deployment of innovative low-carbon technologies. The new call makes available grant funding of €100 million for small-scale projects, with a capital expenditure between €2.5 and 7.5 million, in renewable energy, energy-intensive industries, including substitute products, energy storage, and carbon capture, use and storage.

The European Commission has presented its 'Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy’ together with an Action Plan of 82 initiatives that will guide our work for the next four years. This strategy lays the foundation for how the EU transport system can achieve its green and digital transformation and become more resilient to future crises. As outlined in the European Green Deal, the result will be a 90% cut in emissions by 2050, delivered by a smart, competitive, safe, accessible and affordable transport system.

The European Commission has launched the European Climate Pact, an EU-wide initiative inviting people, communities and organisations to participate in climate action and build a greener Europe. As part of the European Green Deal, the Climate Pact offers a space for everyone to share information, debate and act on the climate crisis, and to be part of an ever-growing European climate movement. An online launch event with Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans for the European Climate Pact will take place on 16 December.

The European Commission proposes to modernise EU legislation on batteries, delivering its first initiative among the actions announced in the new Circular Economy Action Plan. Batteries that are more sustainable throughout their life cycle are key for the goals of the European Green Deal and contribute to the zero pollution ambition set in it. They promote competitive sustainability and are necessary for green transport, clean energy and to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.

The Commission has adopted its annual EU Climate Action Progress Report, covering the EU's progress in cutting greenhouse gas emissions in 2019. Greenhouse gas emissions in the EU-27 decreased by 3.7 % year-on-year, while GDP grew by 1.5%. Emissions have now been reduced by 24% compared to 1990 levels.

The European Commission requested that the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) conduct an updated analysis of the non-CO2 effects of aviation on climate change to fulfil the requirement of the EU Emissions Trading System Directive (Art. 30.4).