The Commission’s Clean Planet for All strategy, which debuted in November 2018, offers EU countries eight different emission-cutting scenarios to make Europe’s economy compliant with the Paris Agreement on climate change by mid-century. EU member states are expected to dissect the plan and decide what option they want to adopt this year.
Luxembourg’s energy minister, Claude Turmes, kicked off proceedings by telling his colleagues that “you can forget six out of eight of the scenarios”, dismissing them as inadequate to stick to the Paris deal. Turmes also criticised the other two options, which aim for net-zero emission cuts by 2050, for lacking transparency and urged the Commission to reveal the figures and statistics behind its conclusions.
The Luxembourger was joined in his call by his Austrian, Irish, Lithuanian and Spanish counterparts, while Finnish minister Kimmo Tiilikainen said his country aims to use its stint in charge of the EU presidency later this year to adopt conclusions.
