The European Parliament has formally set a goal to make the entire European Union carbon neutral by 2050.
Members of the European Parliament passed the Climate Act on Thursday in a vote of 442 for, 203 against, and 51 abstentions. The Act also increased the EU’s goal to reduce carbon emissions from 44 per cent of 1990 levels to 55 per cent by 2030.
Swedish Social Democrat MEP Jytte Guteland said, according to SVT: “It’s a real boost compared to today’s level. I see that it will only play a bigger and bigger role for Europe and the world.”
Swedish MEP Emma Wiesner, a member of the Centre Party, said that she was concerned that the package did not go far enough.
“The government has more than doubled the appropriations for climate policy, but despite this, emissions no longer decrease. In 2018, emissions even increased. That is why climate policy has been voted the worst waste of the year.” https://t.co/FP2fs9LzRF
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“I expect an unprecedented climate package. The only thing I worry about is that it will not be ambitious enough, but the goals are a good starting point,” she said.
According to SVT, the European Commission presented a draft of the climate law last spring and set a binding target of becoming climate neutral by 2050. Initially, the European Parliament wanted to decrease emissions by 60 per cent compared to 1990 levels by 2030 but settled for 55 per cent.
Conservative and populist MEPs were largely against the proposal, with Polish Law and Justice (PiS) MEP Anna Zalewska stating: “The adopted document is disappointing. There is no money for it currently. Without proper financing, it will not be possible to achieve a just transformation.”
“The climate law has orders and bans and will not only result in new taxes, but also in an increase in the cost of everyday life,” Ms Zalewska added.
Sweden, the home of noted climate change activist Greta Thunberg, is one of the countries in the European Union that has pushed most for reducing emissions and has considered banning the sale of new cars that use fossil fuels by the end of the decade.
Despite Sweden’s push to combat climate change, Swedes in 2019 voted climate change spending as the biggest waste of taxpayer money.
Of course it is. https://t.co/MX4Q14zQod
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