Editorial: Governing the EU's climate and energy transition through the 2030 Framework

• Author: Kati Kulovesi,Harro Asselt,Claire Dupont
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12359
• Published date: 01 July 2020
• Date: 01 July 2020

RECIEL. 2020;29:147–150.  

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  147wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/reel

DOI: 10 .1111/reel .12359

EDITORIAL

Editorial: Governing the EU’s climate and energy transition

through the 2030 Framework

In preparing its intended nationally determined contribution during

negotiations for t he Paris Agreeme nt on climate change, th e European

Union (EU) was one of th e first parties to t he United Nations

Framework Convent ion on Climate Change (UNFCCC) t o set a new

climate change mit igation target for 20 30, pledging to cut gre enhouse

gas emissions by at le ast 40% compared to 1990.1 Intern ally, the EU’s

2030 Climate and E nergy Policy Framew ork includes two add itional

targets to ach ieve a share of at least 32% for ren ewable energy in

energy consu mption and an improvement of at le ast 32.5% in energy

efficiency, retaining the target structure and main legal instruments of

the EU’s 2020 climate a nd energy package.

Implementation of the 2030 targets has involved modifications

to existing legislation and the adoption of new legal instruments. Key

updates to existing legislation relate to the promotion of renewable

energy and energy efficiency, and modifications to the EU emissions

trading system (ETS). The allocation of responsibilities among Member

States for reducing greenhouse gas emissions outside the ETS sec-

tors is governed by a new Effort Sharing Regulation, resembling the

currently applicable Effort Sharing Decision. The 2030 Framework

also introduces a new Regulation on the Governance of the Energy

Union and Climate Action to improve planning, monitoring and report-

ing related to the climate and energy targets and to align EU climate

law with the Paris Agreement’s processes. Another new feature is

that the EU’s 2030 target also includes the land use, land-use change

and forestry (LULUCF) sector, with the EU adopting a new LULUCF

Regulation that strengthens previous accounting rules for the sector

under the Kyoto Protocol.

All the relevant l egislation to impleme nt the 2030 Framework

has been adopte d. Against this bac kground, this spe cial issue aims to

offer a timely a nalysis of recent development s in EU climate change

law, with an emphasis on t he 2030 Framework. Such an anal ysis is

important for several reasons.

First, the re is a need to take stock of EU climate law foll owing

the many important changes introduced through the 2030

Framework. It has b een argued that EU climate law is ‘enor mously

complex’ and t hat it is ‘a huge challenge for EU climate scho lars to

map and unders tand it well’.2 This special issu e thus seeks to con-

tribute to effo rts to criticall y analyse and better u nderstand the

rapidly evolvi ng and expanding body of EU clim ate law and policy.

Second, the an alysis in this special iss ue of the mechanisms and

tools of the 2030 Fra mework will assist in unders tanding how EU cli-

mate law and polic y can and should be fur ther developed and h ow

their ambition can be increased. EU climate law and policy remain in

flux even after t he comprehensive reform t hat is the focus of this spe-

cial issue, and an other wave of changes is alrea dy on its way. In re-

sponse to mounti ng internal and ex ternal press ure to increase amb ition,

accelerated by the 2018 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on

Climate Change th at highlights the benef its of keeping global war ming

below 1.5°C compared to 2°C,3 the new European Commission led by

Ursula von der Leye n has set out an ambitious politic al agenda in the

form of the Europe an Green Deal. This is a ro admap to make the EU

economy susta inable and to ensure, amo ng others, that ther e are no

net greenhous e gas emissions by 2050. As pa rt of the planned climate

neutrality transformation, the Commission is scheduled to propose an

increase of the 20 30 target to at leas t 50% and towards 55%.4 In March

2020, the Commis sion also proposed a n ew EU Climate Law that wou ld

enshrine the EU ’s climate neutralit y target in law and est ablish an emis-

sions trajec tory to achieve it.5 Th e articles in this spe cial issue show

that the 2030 Fra mework is a crucial stepp ing stone to achieving cli-

mate neutralit y by 2050: only with a clear anal ysis of the Framework

will the EU be able to a djust its governance a pproach to respond ef fec-

tively and rapi dly to the climate crisis.

Third, as the cont ributions to this issue hi ghlight, there are inhe r-

ent tensions in EU clim ate and energy governance that wil l have to

be dealt with as a mat ter of urgency, includi ng misalignment of pol icy

objectives and tensions among flexible or stable approaches. The

forthcomin g round of reforms constit utes an opportunit y to address

these tensions.

 1‘Submissio n by Latvia and t he European Com mission on beha lf of the European U nion

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/ ndcs t

aging/ Publi shedD ocume nts/Europ ean%20Uni on%20Fir st/LV-03-06-EU%20INDC.pdf>.

 2M Peeters, ‘E U Climate Law: L argely Unchar ted Legal Territo ry’ (2019) 9 Climat e Law

137, 1 40.

 3Intergovern mental Panel o n Climate Change ( IPCC), Global Warming of 1.5°C (IPCC

2018).

 4See <https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regul ation/ have-your-say/initi ative

s/12265-2030-Clima te-Target-Plan>.

 5Commission ( EU) ‘Proposal f or a Regulation of t he European Par liament and of th e

Council est ablishing th e framework for a chieving clima te neutralit y and amending

Regulation (E U) 2018:1999 (Europea n Climate Law)’ COM (2020) 80 fina l, 4 March 2020.

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