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

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

RECIEL. 2020;29:147–150. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/reel  

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  147© 2020 Wiley Peri odicals LLC

DOI: 10 .1111/reel .12359

EDITORIAL

Editorial: Governing the EU’s climate and energy transition

through the 2030 Framework

In preparing it s intended nationally determ ined contribution during

negotiations for t he Paris Agre ement on climate cha nge, the

European Union (EU ) was one of the firs t parties to t he United

Nations Framewor k Convention on Climate Cha nge (UNFCCC) to set

a new climate change mi tigation tar get for 2030, ple dging to cut

greenhouse ga s emissions by at leas t 40% compare d to 1990.1

Internally, the EU’s 203 0 Climate and Energy Policy Fram ework in-

cludes two add itional targets to achieve a sha re of at least 32% for

renewable energy in energy consumption and an improvement of at

least 32.5% in ene rgy effic iency, retaining t he target str ucture and

main legal inst ruments of the EU ’s 2020 climate and en ergy

package.

Implementat ion of the 2030 t argets has involve d modifica-

tions to existin g legislation and t he adoption of new legal instru-

ments. Key update s to existing legislation re late to the promotion

of renewable energy and energy efficiency, and modifications

to the EU emissions t rading system ( ETS). The alloc ation of re-

sponsibilitie s among Member States for redu cing greenhouse gas

emissions out side the ETS sec tors is governed by a n ew Effort

Sharing Regulation, resembling the currently applicable Effort

Sharing Decisi on. The 2030 Fra mework also intro duces a new

Regulation on the G overnance of the En ergy Union an d Climate

Action to improve planning, monitoring and reporting related to

the climate and en ergy target s and to align EU clim ate law with

the Paris Agreement’s processes. Another new feature is that the

EU’s 2030 target a lso includes the land use, lan d-use change and

forestry (LU LUCF) sector, with th e EU adopting a new LULUC F

Regulation that strengthens previous accounting rules for the

sector under t he Kyoto Protocol.

All the relevant l egislation to imp lement the 203 0 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 l aw following

the many important changes introduced through the 2030

Framework. It has b een argued that EU clima te law is ‘enormously

complex’ and t hat it is ‘a huge challenge for EU clima te scholars to

map and unders tand it well’.2 This speci al issue thus seeks to con-

tribute to effo rts to critically analys e and better understand t he

rapidly evolvi ng and expandin g body of EU climate law an d

pol icy.

Second, the an alysis in this special issue of the m echanisms and

tools of the 2030 Fra mework will assis t in underst anding how EU

climate law and poli cy can and should be fu rther developed a nd how

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

flux even after t he comprehensi ve reform that is the fo cus of this

special issue, a nd another wave of changes is already o n its way. In

response to mou nting internal and exte rnal pressure to increa se am-

bition, accele rated by the 2018 repor t by the Intergover nmental

Panel on Climate C hange that highlig hts the benef its of keeping

global warming below 1.5°C compared to 2°C,3 the new European

Commission led by U rsula von der Leyen h as set out an ambiti ous

political age nda in the form of th e European Gree n Deal. This is a

roadmap to make the EU e conomy sustainabl e and to ensure, among

others, that t here are no net greenhouse ga s emissions by 2050. As

part of the plan ned climate neut rality tra nsformation , the

Commission is sch eduled to propose an increas e of the 2030 target

to at least 50% and tow ards 55%.4 In March 2020, the Commiss ion

also proposed a n ew EU Climate Law that w ould enshrine t he EU’s

climate neutra lity target in law and est ablish an emissions tra jectory

to achieve it.5 Th e articles in t his special issu e show that the 203 0

Framework is a cruc ial stepping stone to ach ieving climate neutral ity

by 2050: only with a c lear analysis of the Framework w ill the EU be

able to adjust it s governance appr oach to respond ef fectivel y and

rapidly 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.