As European Commission President Von der Leyen and Vice-President Timmermans develop proposals for the keenly anticipated European Green Deal, T&E as well as BEUC, Climate Action Network, Carbon Market Watch, Eurima, WWF and Friends of the Earth Europe urge them to reject the idea of extending the Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) to road transport and buildings.
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Moving these sectors from the Climate Action Regulation to the ETS framework, would actually lead to Member States washing their hands of their legal obligations to reduce emissions from these sectors. Letting national governments off the hook and implementing a socially unjust, high risk-low reward policy is not how the new European Commission should start its mandate.
Jo Dardenne, ETS and aviation expert with T&E, said: “The ETS is not the miraculous solution to regulate the climate impact of road transport. To the contrary, it won’t do much to transport emissions unless the carbon price goes through the roof. And it would be socially unfair to make regular folks shoulder most of the costs of cleaning up vehicles. The technology innovation we so badly need to go zero emissions will be driven by Zero Emission Vehicle mandates in combination with green investments. Let’s not push a sector to fit a policy but ensure the policy is fit for the sector.”
