The European Union’s top scientific advisers on Monday, June 2nd, blasted the EU’s expected plan to outsource part of the bloc’s climate efforts to poorer countries.
The European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change, tasked with formulating global warming policy recommendations, insisted the bloc must meet its 2040 emissions-cutting target exclusively with domestic efforts.
“The integrity of the domestic goal should not be undermined by these international activities,” Ottmar Edenhofer, the board’s chairman, told reporters on Monday.
The condemnation of the proposal comes after last week EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra told government representatives in Brussels that the Commission would propose a 90% emissions-cutting target with flexibilities for how countries can meet the goal. Apparently, the proposal, expected to be made public on July 2nd, would let member states use international carbon credits to help them meet the goal. Germany, France and Poland are among those who are in favour of the approach.
However, the EU scientists are against the move. “The Advisory Board does not recommend using international carbon credits to replace domestic emission reductions when meeting the 2040 target,” they write in a report released on Monday. “You can do this, but you should not do this by relaxing domestic targets,” Edenhofer said.
