What will EU elections mean for tackling climate change?
The EU has billed its climate policies as trailblazing. But experts say a rightward shift after the European Parliament elections in June could see the bloc backpedal on its green ambitions.
Convoys of tractors clogging the streets of European capitals, burning tires, and even manure slinging: Recent farmers' demonstrations against a law that would restore European nature have become a potent symbol of an apparent backlash against the European Union's (EU's) climate policies.
Ahead of the June European parliamentary elections, EU lawmakers watered down the Nature Restoration Law under pressure from protestors and the rise of populist and right-wing voices. The law aims to rehabilitate 20% of European nature by 2030 but restoration targets for agricultural land and peatland were ultimately diluted.
A key tenet of the EU Green Deal — a policy package aimed at cleaning up the bloc's entire economy from energy and transport to agriculture in a bid to become CO2 neutral by 2050 — the Nature Restoration Law could well be rejected at the final legislative hurdle, with some countries saying they will either abstain or vote against it.
It's a far cry from the 2019 European elections, when hundreds of thousands of young people took to the streets to demand more climate action. Not long after, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyenunveiled the ambitious Green Deal, calling it "Europe's man on the moon moment."
Since then, the bloc has signed off on a raft of legislation to reduce planet heating greenhouse gas emissions, including a ban on the sale of new fossil fuel cars starting 2035 and carbon market reforms.
Those policies are unlikely to be withdrawn. But the new mood music raises questions about the future of the EU's wider environmental agenda after the election. Even as the continent experiences record heat, drought and flooding and surveys show most Europeans are in favor of doing more to tackle climate change, analysts warn more parties are using climate policy as a political scapegoat, blaming it for higher energy prices and rising living costs.
"We know that those arguments are usually used to polarize to the maximum extent before the European election and therefore to attract some voters," said Neil Makaroff, a political analyst from Brussels-based thinktank Strategic Perspectives.
India targets net-zero carbon emissions by 2070, says Modi
India’s economy will become carbon neutral by the year 2070, the country’s prime minster has announced at the COP26 climate crisis summit in Glasgow. The target date is two decades beyond what scientists say is needed to avert catastrophic climate impacts. India is the last of the world’s major carbon polluters to announce a net-zero target, with China saying it would reach that goal in 2060, and the United States and the European Union aiming for 2050.
COP26: What climate summit means for one woman in Bangladesh
China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.
Why China's climate policy matters to us all
China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.
Deliver on promises, developing world tells rich at climate talks
A crucial U.N. conference heard calls on its first day for the world's major economies to keep their promises of financial help to address the climate crisis, while big polluters India and Brazil made new commitments to cut emissions. World leaders, environmental experts and activists all pleaded for decisive action to halt the global warming which threatens the future of the planet at the start of the two-week COP26 summit in the Scottish city of Glasgow on Monday. The task facing negotiators was made even more daunting by the failure of the Group of 20 major industrial nations to agree ambitious new commitments at the weekend.