Carbon Emissions: EU Countries

(asked on 9th July 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which EU Member States have adopted targets for zero net emissions by (a) 2050, (b) 2040, (c) another date and (d) a date not yet specified.


Answered by
Chris Skidmore Portrait
Chris Skidmore
This question was answered on 15th July 2019

The UK was the first major economy to legislate for a net zero target. The action we are taking in setting this target will continue our proud tradition of climate leadership.

The EU Member States that have targets for net zero greenhouse gas emissions in legislation are Sweden (by 2045) and the United Kingdom (by 2050). France is currently in the process of legislating for a 2050 net zero greenhouse target.

In addition, a range of Member States have adopted or are currently publicly considering adopting plans for net zero carbon or greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and in some cases have stated their intention is to legislate for a target. These include Denmark, Germany, and Portugal and Finland. Other Member States with plans to significantly reduce emissions by 2050 include the Netherlands, which has a law to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 95%, and Spain, which has a draft law proposing an at least 90% reduction (in both cases the reduction is compared to 1990).

The EU is also considering adopting a bloc-wide net zero 2050 target, with a large majority of Member States, including the UK, supporting a net zero EU target by 2050 at the June European Council this year. Through ratifying the Paris Agreement, the EU and its Member States have already committed to aiming for a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of the century, as set out in Article 4.1 of the Agreement.

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