Reduce them and grab them! Renew Europe supports final parts of the Green Deal on reducing and capturing greenhouse gas emissions

Renew Europe welcomes today's final consent of three interinstitutional agreements to reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which sets us on course to keep the EU's climate targets within reach.

Known as the second largest contributor to climate disruption, 135 million tonnes of man-made methane emissions were leaked into the atmosphere in 2022, even though cutting methane emissions is known to be a cheap way to slow global warming in short notice. The adopted European legislation on methane emissions reduction in the energy sector now aims at halting the waste of methane emissions. A ban on venting and flaring and leaks quickly plugged will ensure that useful energy is no longer wasted but captured for more efficient purposes while a Renew led proposal ensures that the same efforts will also apply to non – EU producers.

MEP Pascal Canfin (L’ Europe Ensemble, France), ENVI chair and rapporteur in ENVI, says:

“This is the first European law aiming to reduce methane emissions. Until now, methane was a blind spot of our climate policies. Now we are not only tackling domestic methane emissions but also those from our fossil imports! This is further progress in the Green Deal to respect our international commitments.”

MEP Martin Hojsik (Progresivne Slovensko,Slovakia) shadow rapporteur in ENVI, declared :

“We finally have a tool to reduce one of the most significant greenhouse gases beyond the European borders. It will not only help us to tackle global warming and limit air pollution, but also to strengthen our energy security.”

What does not leave the tailpipe, works well for the climate! Heavy-duty vehicles are still responsible for 28% of road transport emissions, equivalent to 6% of the EU's total emissions. At the same time, it may be assumed that road transport will continue to grow and that, if policy remains unchanged, emissions will increase accordingly. The revised CO2 emission standards for new heavy-duty vehicles approved today in plenary serves a dual purpose. A growth path towards a CO2 reduction of up to 90% by 2040 keeps us on track to achieve emission-free mobility and thus the EU's climate objectives. Reducing emissions and therefore less pollution also benefits citizens’ health in urban areas, reversing the curve of 300,000 premature deaths per year due to air pollution.

MEP Pascal Canfin (L’ Europe Ensemble, France), ENVI chair and Renew shadow rapporteur in ENVI, says:

“With this text, we are bringing heavy – duty vehicle emission standards in line with the European Union’s Climate targets up to 2050. This one more step of the deployment of the Green Deal which will allow the development of clean and competitive heavy – duty industry in Europe.”

Deploying carbon removals to combat climate change. While Europe's goal of becoming climate neutral primarily involves immediate emissions reductions, both permanent and temporary carbon removals are needed to achieve full decarbonisation by 2050. The Renew Europe group welcomes the final consent on a certification framework for carbon removals as it provides a solid foundation for the deployment of innovative and high-quality carbon removal techniques and kick-start carbon farming in Europe.

MEP Emma Wiesner (Centerpartiet, Sweden) Renew Europe shadow rapporteur in ENVI says:

“I am very happy with today’s vote. Now we can create a market for permanent carbon removals and provide farmers with the possibility to earn money from climate friendly practices. Renew Europe has been able to both safeguard the climate integrity and transparency, and at the same time increase the ambitions of this framework.”

MEP Martin Hlaváček (ANO, Czechia) Renew Europe rapporteur for opinion in AGRI, says :

“I am pleased with how we've effectively directed this voluntary legislation towards farmers, enabling them to generate additional income through carbon farming activities if they choose to integrate them into their business. One significant achievement for Renew Europe was broadening the framework's scope to include emission reductions, thus providing farmers with opportunities to benefit from them alongside sequestering carbon, while preserving food production. Finally, we have created a crucial link with the CAP to ensure minimum administrative cost and cutting of red tape.”