Assessing the EU’s 2030 Climate and Energy Policy Framework: Incremental change toward radical transformation?

• Author: Kati Kulovesi,Sebastian Oberthür
• Date: 01 July 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12358
• Published date: 01 July 2020

RECIEL. 2020;29:151–166.  

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  151wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/reel

1 | INTRODUCTION

This article p rovides a comprehensi ve overview of changes to

European Union (EU ) climate and energy law to imp lement the EU’s

2030 mitigati on target under the Pa ris Agreement thro ugh the

2030 Climate and E nergy Policy Framewo rk (2030 Framework).1

We analyse the key elem ents of the 2030 Framework a nd compare

it with the legal f ramework impleme nting the EU’s 2020 climate an d

energy tar gets (2020 Package). Our ove rall assessment is th at the

2030 Framework d evelops and enhances EU cl imate and energy

law without revolu tionizing it. It puts the EU on a pat h towards an

incremental t ransition to a low-carb on society rather t han respond-

ing to calls in clima te science for a radical tra nsformation.2

We also reflect on t he future of the 2030 Framewo rk. The ambi-

tion of the 2030 Fra mework is not in line with the goal s of the Paris

Agreement, which include limiting the global average temperature

increase to well be low 2°C and pursuing eff orts to limit it to 1.5°C. 3

The ambition is al so not in line with the EU’s goal of b ecoming cli-

mate neutral – th at is, achieving a balance bet ween greenhouse gas

emissions and th eir removals – by 2050.4 In ligh t of these climate

policy objec tives, there is a clear need to f urther strengthe n EU cli-

mate and energ y law before 2030.

This work has alre ady begun less than two years a fter the final-

ization of the 203 0 Framework. The Comm ission published the

European Gree n Deal (EGD) Communicat ion in December 2019,

aiming to put the Eur opean economy onto a more sustai nable path

and achieving cli mate neutrality by 205 0.5 Accordingly, the

Commission has al ready proposed a Europ ean Climate Law to imple-

ment the 2050 clim ate neutrality t arget.6 The latte r was approved by

the European Co uncil in December 2019.7 The Commissio n should

also publish a pla n in 2020 to increase the 203 0 climate target to

50–55 percent, and a prop osal in June 2021 to revise th e relevant

legislative measures to deliver on the increased ambition.8 We will

therefore also b riefly discuss how the EGD m ight affect the 203 0

 1Paris Agre ement (adopted 1 2 December 2015, e ntered into forc e 4 November 2016) 55

ILM 740 art 4(1)–(2) .

 2Intergovern mental Panel o n Climate Change ( IPCC), Global Warming of 1.5°C (IPCC

2018).

 3Paris Agre ement (n 1) art 2(1).

 4Commission ( EU) ‘Proposal f or a Regulation of t he European Par liament and of th e

Council est ablishing a fr amework for ach ieving carbo n neutrality a nd amending

Regulation (E U) 2018/1999 (European C limate Law)’ COM (2020) 80 final , 4 March 2020

(European Cl imate Law Propo sal).

 5Commission ( EU) ‘The Europe an Green Deal’ ( Communicati on) COM(2019) 640 f inal, 11

December 20 19 (EGD) Annex II.

 6European Cli mate Law Propos al (n 4).

 7European Co uncil, ‘Concl usions’, EUCO 29/19 (12 December 2 019) para 1. The

European Co uncil also ackn owledged that on e Member State (P oland) could no t ‘commit

to implement t his objectiv e as far as it is concer ned’ (ibid).

 8EGD (n 5) Annex II .

Received: 20 May 20 20 

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  Accepted: 30 June 2 020

DOI: 10 .1111/reel .12358

SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE

Assessing the EU’s 2030 Climate and Energy Policy Framework:

Incremental change toward radical transformation?

Kati Kulovesi  | Sebastian Oberthür

This is an open ac cess article und er the terms of the Crea t ive Commo ns Attri bution Licens e, which permits u se, distributio n and reproducti on in any medium,

provided the o riginal work is prop erly cited.

© 2020 The Autho rs. Review of Europea n, Comparative & Inter national Environm ental Law publishe d by Wiley Periodic als LLC

Correspondence

Email: kati.kulovesi@uef.fi Abstract

This article prov ides a comprehensive overview of t he changes to European Union

(EU) climate and energ y law brought about by the 2030 Clim ate and Energy Policy

Framework. It explain s the Framework’s background and obj ectives, and analyses its

main legal instru ments. It argues that the 2 030 Framework incrementa lly develops

and enhances EU climate law wi thout revolutionizing it, ad vancing in particular it s

proceduralizatio n. The article also expl ores the prospects fo r future change of the

2030 Framework towards m ore radical transform ation in light of the European Green

Deal and the ongoing COVID -19 pandemic.

152 

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     KULOVESI and OBERTHÜR

Framework – and how t he ongoing COVID-19 pandemic might af-

fect this work .

This article i s structured as fol lows. Section 2 discu sses the

background , objectives and legal st ructure of the 2030 Frame work.

Section 3 incl udes a detailed analysi s of the key legal instrument s in

the 2030 Framewo rk, comparing them w ith the 2020 Package and

discussing thei r future in light of the EGD. Sec tion 4 presents our

overall assessment and conclusions.

2 | OVERVIEW OF THE 2030 FRAMEWORK

AND ITS CONTEXT

2.1 | Back ground and objectives of the 2030

Framework

One of the main obje ctives of the 2030 Framework is to i mplement

the EU’s emissions reduction contribution under the Paris Agreement.

The Agreement relies on nationally determined contributions (NDCs),

that is, climate cha nge mitigation plans th at the parties defin e nation-

ally. 9 The EU submitted it s intended NDC in 2015, pledg ing ‘an at

least 40% dom estic reduction in green house gas emissions by 2030

compared to 1990’, to be achie ved without the use of inter national

carbon credits but including land use, land-use change and forestry

(LULUCF).10

While some indu stries lobbied for on ly a climate target,11 th e

2030 Framework m aintains the target s tructure of the EU’s 202 0

Package, which a ims to cut greenhouse gas e missions by 20 percent,

increase the sh are of renewable energ y in the EU’s final energy co n-

sumption to 20 perc ent and improve energy e fficiency by 20 per-

cent. Along th e same lines, the 2030 Fra mework includes an at leas t

32 percent target f or renewable energy an d a target to enhance en-

ergy effi ciency by at least 32.5 per cent.

In addition to imp lementing the Paris A greement, the 203 0

Framework is par t of the Energy Union.12 Th e European Council

agreed on the fi ve dimensions of the Energy Union i n March 2015,

namely: (i) energy security; (ii) internal energy market; (iii) energy

efficiency; (iv) decarbonization; and (v) research, innovation and

competitiveness.13 While their politic al motivations differ, the 203 0

Framework and th e Energy Union are legall y entwined.14

2.2 | Legal basis an d structure of the

2030 Framework

As illustrat ed in Table 1, the 2030 Framework is bas ed on two provi-

sions of the Treaty on the Fun ctioning of the Europe an Union

(TFEU).15 Article 192(1) of the TFEU h as been used as the basis fo r

legislation in th e 2030 Framework with climate c hange mitigation as

part of environ mental protection as it s primary object ive. Those ele-

ments of the Frame work that focus on energ y have been enacted

under the TFEU’s ti tle on EU energy pol icy, using Article 194(2) as th e

legal basis. In bo th cases, the ordinar y legislative proced ure has been

used, meaning t hat the Council of Minist ers and the European

Parliament inte racted to amend and adopt t he various legislative in-

struments i n 2017–2019.

The 2030 Framewo rk builds on and compl ements the legal st ruc-

tures implementing the EU’s 2020 targets.16 It revises the Emis sions

Trading System (ETS)17 and Energy Efficiency Directives,18 recas ts

the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II)19 and upgrades the previ-

ous Effort Sh aring Decision to an Effort S haring Regulation (ESR) to

 9Paris Agre ement (n 1) art 4.

 10‘Submis sion by Latvia an d the European C ommission on be half of the Europe an Union

and its Memb er States, Inte nded National ly Determined C ontributio n by the European

Union and its M ember States’ (6 M arch 2015) <https://www4.unfccc.int /sites/

ndcstaging/PublishedDocuments/European%20Union%20First/LV-03-06-EU%20INDC.

pdf>.

 11EurActiv, ‘Ene rgy Utilitie s Push Carbon P ricing, Lobby a gainst Renewa ble Targets at

COP21’ (EurActiv, 9 De cember 2015).

 12Commission ( EU) ‘Framework St rategy for a Resi lient Energy U nion with a Forw ard-

Looking Cli mate Policy’ (C ommunicatio n) COM(2015) 80 fi nal, 25 Februar y 2015, 4–6.

See K Szuleck i et al, ‘Shaping t he Energy Uni on: Between Nat ional Positio ns and

Governance I nnovation in EU En ergy and Clima te Policy’ (2016) 16 Cl imate Policy 552.

 13European Co uncil, ‘Conc lusions’, EUCO 11/15 (20 Mar ch 2015) para 1.

 14Commissi on (EU) ‘Clean Ene rgy for All Euro peans’ (Commun ication) COM(2 016) 860

final, 30 Nov ember 2016.

 15Consolidat ed Version of the Treat y on the Functio ning of the Europe an Union [2016]

OJ C202/47 (TFEU).

 16On the 2020 Pa ckage, S Ober thür and M Palle maerts (eds), Th e New Climate Poli cies of

the European Union: Internal Legislation and Climate Diplomacy (VUB Press 2010); a nd K

Kulovesi, E Mor gera and M Muñoz, ‘ Environment al Integratio n and Multiface ted

Internatio nal Dimension s of EU Law: Unpack ing the EU’s 2009 C limate and Ener gy

Package’ (2011) 4 8 Common Market L aw Review 829.

 17Directi ve (EU) 2018/410 amending Dir ective 2003/87/EC on th e EU emissions tra ding

system [2018] OJ L76/3 (ETS A mending Dire ctive).

 18Directi ve (EU) 2018/2002 of the E uropean Parli ament and of the Co uncil of 11

December 20 18 amending Dire ctive 2012/27/EU on ener gy efficie ncy [2018] OJ

L328/210 (Energy Efficiency Directive).

 19Directi ve (EU) 2018/2001 on the p romotion of the u se of energy fro m renewable

sources [2018] OJ L328/8 2 (RED II).

TABLE 1 Le gal structure of the 20 30 Framework

Umbrella (A rticles 192(1) and 194(2) TFEU)

Regulation on t he Governance of the Ener gy Union and Climate

Action (2018/1999)

Climate Compo nent (Article

192(1) TFEU)

Revised Emissions Trading

Directive (2018/410)

Regulation 2018/842 on

Effort Sharing

Regulation on L and Use,

Land-Use Change and

Forestry (2018/841)

Energy Comp onent (Article 194( 2)

TFEU)

Recast Renewable Energy Directive

(2018/2001)

Revised Energy Efficiency Directive

(2018/2002)

Revised Energ y Performance of

Buildings Directive (2018/844)

Recast Elec tricity Market

Regulation (2019/943)

Recast Elec tricity Market Dire ctive

(20 19/94 4)

Regulation on Risk Preparedness

(20 19/941)

Recast Regul ation on the Agency

for the Coope ration of Energy

Regulators (2019/942)