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EU unveils sweeping climate change plan

“Our current fossil fuel economy has reached its limit,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “We know that we have to move to a new model.”

EU unveils sweeping climate change plan

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen

The European Union on Wednesday proposed a sweeping overhaul of its economy to fight climate change, aiming to slash the bloc’s reliance on fossil fuels and potentially jolting global trade with import levies that would hit high-emitting countries.

The package, drafted by the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, ranks among the most ambitious plans yet by a major economic power to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, requiring companies and households to adopt cleaner technologies such as wind turbines, solar power and electric vehicles. It would limit pollution across the European economy, including electricity generation, automobiles, housing, shipping and agriculture.

“Our current fossil fuel economy has reached its limit,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “We know that we have to move to a new model.”

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China plans this week to launch its own national emissions-trading system.

The commission’s proposal has strong backing in European capitals, but its details will be fiercely debated in coming months by EU governments and the European Parliament, which must approve the plan before it can become law. Negotiators must bridge differences across the EU from wealthier countries like France—which has relatively low emissions because of its reliance on nuclear power—to poorer Eastern European nations such as Poland, a major user of coal-fired electricity.

In France, a plan to raise a tax on the carbon content of fuel drew outrage from drivers and gave birth to the antiestablishment yellow-vest protest movement.

The commission’s plan, dubbed the European Green Deal, aims to achieve the bloc’s most recent commitment under the Paris Climate Agreement, the 2015 accord that calls for countries to limit global warming to close to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.

The EU has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions 55% by 2030 compared with 2005, and achieve zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

President Biden in April set targets for increasing renewable energy in the U.S., including 100% carbon-free electricity generation by 2035. But a national renewable energy standard sought by his administration was dropped from an infrastructure bill during negotiations with Republicans, raising questions about how some of the targets will be achieved.

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