News: The EU's new climate target accelerates the reduction of CO2 emissions

• The 27 EU heads of state and government have agreed on a more stringent climate target
• The EU's new climate target decides to reduce the CO2 emissions by at least 55%
• The previous EU climate target is thus increased by 15%, previously a reduction of 1990% from 40 was planned

What does it take to achieve the EU's new climate target?

To the new Climate protection goals implementation of the EU, it is necessary to switch to green electricity and vehicles without emissions as quickly as possible and to achieve a move away from coal, gas and oil. In addition, houses are to be renovated in a climate-friendly manner. Various funds in the billions are to finance the project in the 190 member states.

The EU’s new climate target are still in support of the goals set in the Paris Climate Agreement In 2015, it was decided to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius - if possible at 1,5 degrees Celsius. The EU further targets to become carbon neutral by 2050 climate neutral , which means avoiding or compensating all greenhouse gases.

Record drop in CO2 emissions due to pandemic

The worldwide lockdown measures of the Corona pandemic have lead to a record low of CO2 emissions According to the Global Carbon Project, around 2020% less carbon dioxide was emitted in 7 compared to the previous year. This corresponds to 2,4 billion tons of carbon dioxide, leading to total emissions output dropping to 34 billion tons.

The USA achieved a particularly large decline with 12% decrease of carbon emissions and the EU with 11%. Especially zhe transportation sector, and aviation sector in particular, have experienced a large decrease in emissions by 22% - in some countries even by 30%. However, it is not possible to foresee, if the decline in carbon dioxide emissions can be permanent. According to researchers, after ease of lock-downs, a sharp increase is even possible, as was we have seen in 2010 after the global financial crisis.