Plans for 500 million people out to 2050:
***
Becoming the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050 is the greatest challenge and opportunity of our times. To achieve this, the European Commission presented the European Green Deal, the most ambitious package of measures that should enable European citizens and businesses to benefit from sustainable green transition. Measures accompanied with an initial roadmap of key policies range from ambitiously cutting emissions, to investing in cutting-edge research and innovation, to preserving Europe’s natural environment.

Supported by investments in green technologies, sustainable solutions and new businesses, the Green Deal can be a new EU growth strategy. Involvement and commitment of the public and of all stakeholders is crucial to its success.

Above all, the European Green Deal sets a path for a transition that is just and socially fair. It is designed in such a way as to leave no individual or region behind in the great transformation ahead.

https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en

https://youtu.be/F2Z7rio5sow
***

"Supported by investments in green technologies, sustainable solutions and new businesses, the Green Deal can be a new EU growth strategy. Involvement and commitment of the public and of all stakeholders is crucial to its success."

Careful examination is NOT required

1.Supported by investments in green technologies, sustainable solutions and new businesses .....
None of these have ever succeeded, except as subsistence farming for the individuals/communities prepared to invest the time to grow food to survive on.

2. the Green Deal can be a new EU growth strategy.
How many people can be employed and fed by volunteer farmers to tell the same farmers how to grow more food?

3. Involvement and commitment of the public and of all stakeholders is crucial to its success.
Any chance of success would be cancelled by EU red tape and interference

Where are all the apple-pie factories going to be based?

Jan 16, 2020 at 10:21 AM AK

Moms will be required by law to produce all the apple pie a community can eat. There will be no need for factories, just free labour.

Tuesday's announcement of one trillion euro spend:

//
Financing the green transition: The European Green Deal Investment Plan and Just Transition Mechanism:

The European Union is committed to becoming the first climate-neutral bloc in the world by 2050. This requires significant investment from both the EU and the national public sector, as well as the private sector. The European Green Deal's Investment Plan - the Sustainable Europe Investment Plan - presented today will mobilise public investment and help to unlock private funds through EU financial instruments, notably InvestEU, which would lead to at least €1 trillion of investments.

...

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_20_17
//

Yesterday the rather empty HoC debated the Green Industrial Revolution:

https://hansard.parliament.uk//Commons/2020-01-15

Debated is not quite the right word as very little counter argument was put to the repeated claims of Climate and Environmental Emergency.

Today Boris meets Mark Carney to discuss climate investments:

//
PM Johnson Meets BoE's Carney to Discuss Climate Finance
By Reuters
Jan. 16, 2020, 7:03 a.m. ET

LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is meeting the Bank of England Governor Mark Carney on Thursday to discuss climate finance, Johnson's spokesman said.

Carney, due to become the United Nations’ special envoy for climate change next year when he steps down from the bank, has previously said the financial sector has been too slow to address the risks from climate change and that politicians need to effect change now.

Johnson will also attend a summit on Libya in Germany on Sunday, the spokesman said.

(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper, writing by Michael Holden; editing by Stephen Addison)
https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/01/16/business/16reuters-britain-politics-johnson.html
//

And Sir David tells us the end is nigh:

//
Sir David Attenborough warns of climate 'crisis moment'
By David Shukman
Science editor

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-51123638
//

Seems the Boris - Carney meeting was a job interview:

https://www.edie.net/news/9/Mark-Carney-announced-as-Boris-Johnson-s-finance-advisor-for-COP26/

The EU has signed its own death warrant.

Early mover Germany has just announced their 45bn euro plan:
//
Germany to pay energy firms billions in coal phaseout plan
Marathon talks have produced an agreement between the government and Germany's coal-producing states on phasing out its coal-fired energy plants at the latest by 2038. Some plants will already be shut down this year.

...
What's in the plan?
The government wants to move up the timetable, shooting to exit coal by 2035 and at the latest by the previous target date of 2038.
Energy firms will receive a €4.35 billion ($4.85 billion) payout to compensate for the coal phaseout.
At least eight coal-fired power plants will be taken off the grid this year.
The government will provide €14 billion to the affected states to specifically aid the transition out of coal.
An additional €26 billion will be dedicated for "further measures" to support the states.
Financial payouts will only begin once parliament passes legislation making the deal binding.
...

https://www.dw.com/en/germany-to-pay-energy-firms-billions-in-coal-phaseout-plan/a-52022317
//

Speech
28 January 2020
Brussels
Executive Vice President Timmermans' remarks at the Conference on the first European Climate Law

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/speech_20_144

Sounds like good news for Russian gas exports. The more Western Europe destroys its traditional energy companies and coal/nuclear generation, the more reliable they will become on gas from the East.

Wind/solar is a fail and when the crises occur they will be solved by quickly-built gas generation. It seems the gas will have to come from Mr Putin or his successor, unless the US and middle East can ship enough liquified gas. When people in the Kremlin sit down to discuss their long term strategic aims I wouldn't be surprised if this was one of the first things on the agenda. They'd have to be brain dead to promote anything else when plotting their fiendish interferences on Facebook.

Opening remarks

Good morning everyone and welcome to what I hope is going to be an exciting day. I am certainly looking forward to hearing the conclusions this afternoon because we can certainly use all the help we can get and if this is to be a success, it can only happen if it is inclusive if we are all part of it and if we can agree on the track to follow.

We promised to do a lot in the first 100 days of this Commission and part of that will be the introduction of the European climate law, so that we can enshrine into law our objective to become climate neutral by 2050. You have seen the presentation of the Green Deal Communication, you have probably also followed the Green Deal Investment Plan and the Just Transition Mechanism, which we introduced a couple of weeks ago. As you can see we are not wasting any time, and by the way, a big thank you to everyone in the services of the Commission who has contributed to this, we are putting people under tremendous pressure but we will make sure that what we deliver continues to be of high quality, and I have to thank my colleagues for that.

Today, we are here to listen to you, to hear your views on the next step for the European Green Deal, which is the climate law. It has to be ‘your' Green Deal, it has to be ‘our' Green Deal, so consultation and debate will be, and remain, not just today, essential.

Let me just remind us of why this is so important: I think that the scientific evidence is clearer day by day how quickly and disastrous the consequences of unrestrained climate change are affecting us. We are increasingly seeing warnings of risks turning into haunting manifestation of disaster across the globe. Just look at Australia, wildfires have killed approximately one billion animals, one billion! Double the population of the European Union. I want to make clear that this is not me conducting project fear; I am just reporting what is actually happening. It is urgent, it is essential; it is undeniable that we need to take action. The risks will only increase, as the earth gets hotter and the climate gets more disturbed.

Climate is changing. We are in a crisis. We saw a record number of cyclones in the Indian ocean last year, the wettest twelve months on record in the United States, the planet's hottest August on record and it is happening close to our home. Last year temperature records were broken in European countries from Spain to Slovakia, with France recording its highest ever temperature of 45.9°C. In Southern Germany the June heat wave hit just after storms with heavy rain and flooded streets and cellars and forced the Munich airport to suspend its operation temporarily. Everyone in Spain is now very familiar with the phenomenon of Gotta Fría, which used to happen on an average of once every 50 years and now seems to happen almost every year and even more than once. In November nine people died as storms swept parts of France, Greece and Italy with flush floods, landslides and the collapse of an overpass.

I can go on and on with this. I do think it is good to remind ourselves of this but without giving in to paralysis because it's happening and we can't stop it, we can do something about it and this is the most important thing.

The question is, what can we do? As institutions, as individuals, as politicians, as business people, as scientists. What can we do? When I do interviews very often I am very often confronted with a dilemma: “So what is your choice? Do you choose to do something for the climate or do you choose jobs? Do you have any idea what this costs?” And I think it is our duty collectively to explain that choosing to do something against the climate crisis is choosing for jobs, for future jobs. Saying that choosing to invest in this is much smarter than not choosing to invest and spending more money not on investment but on mitigating and on addressing the challenges, which is money that will be spent but which does not bring any revenues, that is not an investment. I think, in our public communication we will have to concentrate on that: to detect the false contradictions and to help people understand that doing nothing does not mean that everything stays the same. That is the biggest trap in public communication: Believing that by doing nothing everything will stay the same. By doing nothing, the problem will get much worse but on the other side by acting we can actually tackle the problem.

This is in my view today the biggest challenge: it is increasingly no longer needed to fight climate deniers. I think climate deniers themselves by now have understood that they are on the wrong track and that they are not very convincing. I have already seen the first climate deniers moving to climate desperation, saying “Why? Let it be, it is too late. Let's live it out for a couple of years, let's see what happens”. We saw some of this also last week in Davos. Especially one speech of somebody who is 72 years old and is a billionaire. The issue is that in the first generation, it is not going to have severe consequences before the end of their natural lives, if they have a lot of money they can move to places where they will be less affected by the consequences. But as a dad of two millennials, and two children that are part of generation Z, we are thinking of these generations and we are thinking ahead and they are saying: We ned to act because you are playing with our future.

I will not be cornered by people who say: “because you point to the urgency you are a pessimist and you are all doom and gloom, you should be optimistic”. No, I think there is no optimism in denying it, there is no optimism in saying, “we will all be ok” by doing nothing. People are too smart to buy that. It is like a way of numbing your senses, but it is just like with alcohol: sooner or later you wake up and you have a terrible headache and you have to confront reality. You can't drown your problems in alcohol. And you can't drown these problems by denying them. They will come back even stronger.

In this context, what do we need to do? There is so much we need to do and there will be ample opportunities to talk about everything we need to do but my fundamental point is: we can do this! We have the science, we have the technology, we can certainly find the money. The Commission is talking about a sum between 260 and 300 billion Euros yearly to invest in this, to make this transition happen. It sounds daunting but I was in Davos last week and I hear what people are talking about, the size of investments they are thinking about anyway and even if you just look at the size of investment that is still being done in fossil fuels. If you reorient that or at least part of it into this direction, we can find the money.

I repeat: the technology, the science, the money is not the problem, so why is it difficult? I think the essential issue is one of governance. How do you organise this? Like in any transition, especially a transition that is dual or even triple for Europe. We have the transition because of the climate crisis. Mother earth is telling us “I can't go on like this and I will let you feel it if you go on like this”. We have an industrial revolution that is the first in human history that affects every being on this planet. This never happened before. And as Europeans we also have a demographic challenge combined with the two other challenges that changes Europe's position in the world. When my parents were born, Europe accounted for 23-24% of the world's population, Africa 5%; in a couple of years time it will be exactly the opposite. That has huge geopolitical consequences for us and for everyone. These three challenges combined, will dictate the policy choices we make. I believe that this is like any other tectonic transformation humanity has gone through. It's a challenge to everyone and to every institution. If we deny as political and public institution, that we will have to adapt to this or become obsolete, we will help political forces across Europe and in the world who thrive on creating this feeling ‘we are anti-establishment'.

This is something we need to do, and we need to do it well. And if our premise is, and that is the premise I want to work on, we want to leave no one behind, we need to organise it at all levels. Again I repeat, doing nothing does not mean nothing will happen. The industrial revolution will happen. Mother earth will continue to tell us it is enough. If we do nothing, we are no longer in control of either development. But if we act and get together we can bring some control into this.

Why is the climate law so important? The climate law, in my view, in simple words is important because it will discipline everyone in this process, especially on the political side, to take the necessary steps, to deliver on this promise to become climate neutral by 2050. And it will give the institutions that need to coordinate this also the legal possibility to act when those who made promises don't deliver on the promises. So it is an exercise in discipline in this transformational age.

I say this as a historian with a keen interest in studying earlier times of fundamental transformation, whether it is the introduction of coal as a basis of the economy, when we went from horses to steam engines and then went from steam engines to combustion engines, now we are going from combustion engines to other forms of energy. Transforming a society that is entirely based on carbon, to a society that no longer needs carbon as a basis for it's functioning, is of a tectonic nature. This happens at a time when digitalisation is revolutionising all sorts of structures. If we do not understand that this is not just an economic change, this is not just a change in how we produce and live, this will affect every single institution upon which society is based and that helps society function as it does. And if we do not understand that we have a collective responsibility in preparing all these institutions, to handle this and to leave no one behind and to take everyone on board, then we understand how epic this challenge is. And then we also understand that disciplining ourselves along this path to 2030, 2040, 2050, through a climate law, is essential to make sure we deliver on this and to make sure we can correct whenever necessary.

Now, over to you, what do we put into a climate law? To what extent do we want to be prescriptive? How far will it go? Who are the subjects of the climate law, who can be held accountable under the climate law? These are all fundamental questions where I hope you can give us some guidance how we can best address this.

Again, as a dad of millennials and generation Z kids, I understand this is an epic challenge but it is also an incredible opportunity for Europe to lead. If we get this right, I can assure you that worldwide there will be huge interests in studying our idea for a climate law. I get questions about this from all parts of the world: ‘How are you going to do this?', ‘we'd like to see this', ‘we'd like to be part of this'. I think this gives Europe a unique opportunity to lead in the world. It gives, again speaking as a dad, new generations an ideal. Generation Z are no longer based on an ideological vision of the world but are filled with ideas for the future of the world, it gives them an idea to work on.

A climate neutral EU in 2050 is an idea people love to embrace. But people will be horribly disappointed if we do not start soon delivering concrete actions. And in that context I hope the climate law can be extremely useful, and I hope we do a good job at the Commission to draft a climate law that answers your requirements, that answers your hopes and that answers your expectations of the years to come.

Thank you very much and good luck today.

Closing remarks

In closing I would like to give you some of the thoughts I have collected about today and also thoughts from other meetings I have had on the Climate Law and Green Deal.

We can agree, perhaps, that our biggest challenge is to get the governance of this right. Because we seem to agree on the end goal we need to achieve. We also seem to agree globally on the measures in the different sectors that will be necessary to get us there. So then the ‘what' is not longer the real issue, it's the ‘how' that is the real issue. And if we agree that the ‘how' is the real issue then I believe that the way we organise ourselves is going to be of eminent importance. If you are part of this organisation, through the climate pact and other measures, I am sure we can come up with the optimal answers. The perfect answers don't exist but optimal answers perhaps we can achieve.

In this context I honestly believe the climate law will play a crucial role. The core issue is this: can the climate law contribute to giving us enough guidance, enough security to follow that path, and at the same time offer us enough flexibility to take different bifurcations or roads when external factors will show that perhaps we have made the wrong choice so we have to put more emphasis here… this development takes care of itself… this development needs more support.

The crucial contribution the climate law can make is to offer long-term predictability and security. That parties who will have to decide whether we achieve this, commit to something and are willing to say ‘I commit to this and if I deviate I am willing to be corrected'. I think this is one of the most important things, that especially investors need. Because the investors I have met so far, all of them say: ‘give us a good project, give us an idea'. It's not the fact that they don't have money they just don't want to take more risk that what is sellable to their constituents, which is logical. I honestly believe that the climate law can give that extra bit of security that some investors need to make this jump into the future.

This jump into the future is a challenge for all of us. If I talk to leaders of European industry, they know what to do but they struggle with how to do it. They know the transition needs to happen, they know that the end goal will be positive for them but the transition itself is a challenge and there I believe the Climate Law can be of help. If we can bring together all the stakeholders and make it possible for European industry to get access to credits that are affordable and that are sustainable then I believe this transition will go ahead.

Let me end on this notion which I am discovering actually on a daily basis: Since we are in such a deep transformational process, it's part of human experience that some things will not work out the way we plan them. They will be more difficult and slower and sometimes they will not succeed; other things will go much faster than anybody had anticipated. We see this for instance now in sustainable energy generation. In combination with the Green Deal as a roadmap, and the extra security provided by things such as the Climate Law, this will put us on the right track to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 and to achieve a substantial reduction of emissions by 2030, which I hope will be in line with the expectations in the European Parliament.

Thank you so much for being here today. I count on your contribution, I count on your solidarity, you can count on mine. My team, led by Diederik Samsom is at your disposal if there are things you see that are not going well. It is nice if you tell us that things are going well, but it is better you tell us where the things are not going well so that perhaps we can have an opportunity to fix it.

This will continue to be a cooperative process, we are not just refocusing our economy, shifting it away from carbon to carbon neutral, we are also reinventing governance because it will be inclusive governance if it is to succeed and for that we need all of you.

Thank you.

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/SPEECH_20_144

Good morning everybody, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Sir David, Ladies and Gentlemen

I am thrilled to welcome you all to the launch of what I hope will be a defining year of action for our country, and indeed for our planet, on tackling climate change but also on protecting the natural world

now when I used to come in a long time ago as a kid, as I’m sure all of us have done, there used to be a very curious exhibit on the way in – which unfortunately doesn’t seem to be there – it’s been removed, I think, for repair in Yorkshire or somewhere

it is a very curious carriage, and it looks like the sort of thing that could have carried Madame Bovary around Paris

except it wasn’t pulled by horses this carriage - can you see the thing in your mind -

it is an electric taxi - the world’s first - and it was invented by an unsung genius called Walter Bersey in 1897

And Walter Bersey like many of us in this room was a total nut for electric vehicles

he built an electric bus that went 4000 miles, this is around 1895

he built a series of electric vans

and he built a total of 75 of these taxis, and they were popular and commodious, velvet lined and effective

because they could turn on a dime they obeyed all the TFL scriptures, and they could mount Savoy hill, which was the steepest in central London

But the tragedy for Bersey, and the tragedy for humanity

was that he allowed himself to be daunted in what he was trying to do

because he was in the end defeated by the sceptics

and those who thought that his efforts were technologically impossible

First he was fined for going too fast - his vehicles could get up to 12 mph - and he was fined for going down parliament street without a chap in front carrying a red flag, which you had to have in those days

and he did admittedly, as time went on, experience some minor technological issues

the beautiful glass batteries that he had that weighed only two tonnes, were not always reliable, the tyres gave way under the strain

and eventually his electric taxis - so lovely and so convenient - were subject to a growing hostile whispering campaign by those who were wedded to the old technology, the ostlers and the coachmen and everyone else in involved in horse drawn vehicles

and in the end, and the end came pretty soon for Bersey, he gave up,

and he concluded that it was impossible

He wound up his company, surrendered to the internal combustion engine in 1899

and that was the last electric taxi on the streets of London for more than a century, 110 years in fact,

until a certain visionary mayor decided to launch a campaign in 2008, and there they are, you can see them all over the streets, or hybrids anyway,

and as you look at that Bersey taxi it is impossible not to feel the pathos

It’s as though humanity came 110 years ago - more than that 120 years ago - to a fork in the road - and took the wrong way

And look at what happened in the century since Bersey despaired

We have had a catastrophic period in which the global addiction to hydrocarbons has got totally out of control

We’ve poured so much CO2 into the atmosphere collectively that our entire planet is swaddled in a great tea cosy of the stuff

CO2 levels today are at a level not seen since 3 million years ago when there were trees on Antarctica,

Since Bersey despaired of his electric taxi, the temperature of the planet has gone up by one degree, and it is now predicted, unless we take urgent action, to get three degrees hotter

And in the hurricanes and the bushfires and the melting of the ice caps, and the acidification of the oceans, the evidence is now overwhelming and it is taking its toll, this phenomenon of global warming is taking its toll on the most vulnerable populations around the planet, which is why the UK has now committed to £11.6bn in tackling global climate change and in financing climate initiatives around the world

And we know, everyone – and it’s fantastic to see so many people here this morning – because I think we all know that as a country and as a society, as a planet, as a species, we must now act

and we in the UK, will do everything we can to support our Chinese friends in their biodiversity COP which is also coming up in the Autumn

and I think it’s very important there should be a link between the two and there should be a clear sharing of the agenda,

because we must reverse the appalling loss of habitats and species

It’s only by repairing the damage to the natural world

and restoring the balance between humanity and nature - which is now so grotesquely out of kilter

that we can address the problem of climate change

and of course at the same time we have to deal with our CO2 emissions

and that is why the UK is calling for us to get to net zero as soon as possible,

for every county to announce credible targets to get there, what’s we want from Glasgow

and that is why we are pledged here in the UK to deliver net zero by 2050

and we’re the first major economy to make that commitment, I think it’s the right thing to do,

I think it’s quite proper that should, we were the first after all, to industrialise. Look at historic emissions of the UK

we have a responsibility to our planet to lead in this way and to do this,

and of course there are people in this country – not necessarily in the Treasury - and people around the world who may say,

of course it’s expensive, of course it’s difficult, it will require thought and change and action, people will say it’s impossible and it can’t be done,

and my message to you all this morning is that they are wrong

and if you look at what this country has done, since 1990 - cutting CO2 by 42 per cent and at the same time seeing a 73% increase in the GDP of this country

We have done that through sheer determination and technological optimism

in 1990 70 per cent of the power of this country came from coal

it’s now down to 3 per cent - and we want to get it to zero by 2024

and that is because, we’re able to do that, because this county is leading a revolution in renewable energy and by the way, it’s driving our national agenda of uniting and levelling up our country,

because it’s parts of the North and the North East of the country in particular, that are showing the lead in renewable energy

the world’s biggest offshore wind turbines are built beside the Humber,

the carbon capture storage is being pioneered on the banks of the Tees.

one in five electric vehicles sold in Europe is built on the banks of where - the Wear. And there you go.

So I say to all those who doubted Walter Bersey, eat your heart out, because his basic idea has triumphed, hasn’t it?

And the thing that they thought to be impossible has actually proved to be the solution,

And even the aviation industry is now committing to be carbon neutral by 2050

well we are on the verge, I’m assured, within a couple of years of having viable electric passenger aircraft

And we will get there, we will get there

And that is the lesson of that electric taxi that I wanted to look at and speculate about mournfully.

it is not that Walter Bersey was wrong, he wasn’t wrong

he was wrong to doubt himself

and the sceptics are wrong to doubt the promethean genius of humanity to solve these problems

So we will crack it and I hope that we can as a planet and as a community of nations get to net zero, as I say, within decades

We’re going to do it by 2050, we’re setting the pace, I hope everybody will come with us

and let’s work with Giuseppe, let’s work with our Italian friends to make COP 26 a great success, a fantastic success for our country and for our planet

and let’s make this year the moment when we come together with the courage and the technological ambition to solve man-made climate change and to choose a cleaner and greener future for all our children and grandchildren.

Published 4 February 2020

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-speech-at-cop-26-launch-4-february-2020

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-launches-un-climate-summit-in-the-uk

https://ec.europa.eu/info/events/high-level-public-conference-european-climate-law-2020-jan-28_en

A lot of copy pastes and links for reference and info for those wanting to follow the evolution of the legislation enforcing the vision.

I'll take the surrey matched with an electric sheep.
============================

Special European Council, 20 February 2020

Video message by President Michel ahead of the European Council
Agenda highlights

EU heads of state or government will discuss the EU’s long-term budget for 2021-2027 during a special meeting of the European Council on 20 February 2020. In his invitation letter, the President of the European Council said: "The time has come to reach an agreement at our level on the multiannual financial framework."

I am convinced that with common sense and determination we can strike a deal that will benefit all Europeans. To achieve this, all sides will need to demonstrate a spirit of compromise.

Charles Michel, President of the European Council
Letter of invitation by President Charles Michel, 25/01/2020
Background brief
Ahead of the summit, President Michel had individual talks with all 27 leaders of the member states on the EU's next long-term budget.

"This week was full of intense meetings on an EU budget that works for all 440 million Europeans", tweeted Charles Michel on Friday, 7 February.

On the basis of these consultations, President Michel presented a proposal on the overall size of the budget and how it is allocated.

On 17 February 2020, the General Affairs Council discussed the President's proposal.

Some of the main issues at stake are:

overall level
volumes of the main policy areas
financing, including revenues (own resources) and corrections
conditionalities and incentives
General Affairs Council, 17 February 2020
MFF negotiations (background information)
Programme

20/02/2020 14:00
Arrivals

Europa building forum

15:00
Exchange of views with the President of the European Parliament

15:30
Special meeting of the European Council

(ttbc)

Press conference by the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission

Justus Lipsius press room

Background

The multiannual financial framework (MFF) will set the limits for EU spending over a period of seven years, as a whole and also for different areas of activity. The multiannual financial framework ensures that the EU's expenditure develops in an orderly manner and within the limits of its own resources. The annual budget of the EU has to comply with the MFF.

The process begins with the presentation of the MFF package by the European Commission. This proposal is then subject to technical and political discussions within the Council. Unanimity is required to secure a deal. When defining its position, the Council receives political guidance from the European Council. The consent of the European Parliament is also required to adopt the MFF regulation.

The European Commission adopted its proposal for the period 2021 to 2027 on 2 May 2018, and negotiations have taken place at different levels since then. In December 2019, the European Council called on President Michel to take the negotiations forward with the aim of reaching a final agreement.

https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/meetings/european-council/2020/02/20/

Statement 4 March 2020 Brussels
Press remarks by President von der Leyen on the occasion of the adoption of the European Climate Law

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/statement_20_381

Good afternoon,

I am pleased to tell you that the Commission has just adopted our proposal for the first ever European Climate Law. This proposal sets in stone our objective to be climate neutral in 2050. And 2050 is no longer impossibly distant to imagine and my children will be a bit younger than I am now when we have 2050. So, as I have a glimpse of the possible environment they will likely experience, this glimpse is pretty sobering if we do not act now. And the science is very clear. Climate is part of the natural world that sustains us. And this natural world is severely endangered. It is high time to act and this Climate Law is part of the European contribution to this action. It will be our compass for the next 30 years. And it will guide us every step of the way as we build a sustainable new growth model.

Before we adopted the Climate Law this morning, I was very pleased to invite a special guest to address the College of Commissioners. I am referring to Greta Thunberg. She will also be younger than many of us here in the room when we reach 2050. And Greta speaks for many of her generation when she calls for more action to tackle climate change. Climate change is caused by us, so in other words, it is up to us to make the turnaround.

And the European Climate Law puts in legislation our target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. It gives us the tools to measure the progress against this long-term goal. It gives us the possibility to take corrective measures, if this is necessary, if we fall behind our own goals. And we will draw the path from 2030 every step to 2050 that is necessary. This path, 2030 to 2050, will be done as soon as we have finished a very detailed impact assessment work. That is something, which is necessary, we have promised it to the Council, we have promised it to the European Parliament and I think it is very important to convince everybody to go down this path with us.

The text of the Climate Law, if you look at it, is actually rather short and it is rather simple. But what it commits us to is of the utmost importance: The Climate Law will oblige the European Union to take our climate goals into account in all future policy and legislation. It is a binding legal obligation. It offers predictability, it offers transparency to, for example, the European industry, to investors, to public authorities. And this is what they are calling for, this is what they ask us to do, because it gives them certainty about what needs to be achieved, and it gives them the certainty at what pace.

I see the climate transition as a huge opportunity for Europe – to get the first mover advantage. I know what European businesses are capable of. I know by experience that we are a continent of innovators and of pioneers and entrepreneurs. This Climate Law will set in stone Europe's position as a climate leader on the global stage.

I am also convinced that the Climate Law will inspire many of our partners to raise their own ambition, as we move towards the COP26 in Glasgow later this year. However, if some do slip behind with their Paris Agreement goals, we are also ready to protect our European industry from the risk of carbon leakage. That is why we have launched work today – including a public consultation – on a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. It will make sure that there is for our European industry a level playing field. This is necessary for them to engage in this transition. We will of course design this Mechanism with stakeholders – in Europe and beyond – in a very inclusive and a very transparent manner.

Europeans want to live on a continent that masters its own destiny and takes control of its own future. I think climate neutrality is our European destiny. And I think a competitive and sustainable economy is the best we can get for our European future. The European Climate Law is part of this ambition.

Thank you.

4 March 2020 Brussels
Questions and answers on the European Climate Law and Climate Pact

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/QANDA_20_336