Letter from environmental organizations and think tanks to the European Commission
According to UNEP’s latest Emissions Gap Report, the EU-27 was the only region to reduce its emissions between 2023 and 2024, cutting them by 58.6 million tonnes of greenhouse gases, while global emissions increased by 1.4 billion tonnes overall. The main driver of this reduction was the land use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF) sector, while countries such as India and China increased their climate footprint by 769 million, 165 million, and 126 million tonnes, respectively, over the same period.
Yet the EU-27 now risks losing its global leadership in climate action due to internal efforts to undermine the new Emissions Trading System for buildings and road transport (ETS2), even before it becomes operational.
An analysis by the Oeko-Institut for the German Environment Agency finds that the European Commission’s current proposal to amend ETS2 could increase emissions in these two sectors by up to 0.6 billion tonnes of CO₂. At the same time, the proposed changes would substantially reduce the revenues available to member states for the investments needed to protect households and businesses — especially the most vulnerable — during the transition.
You can read the joint letter from environmental organizations and think tanks, co-signed by The Green Tank, addressed to Commissioner Hoekstra here.
