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The European Commission has also established a mechanism to assist the transition of regions that will be more profoundly impacted by the 2050 carbon-neutrality target.

By Paul A. Davies and Michael D. Green

On 11 December 2019, the European Union announced that it would enshrine into legislation its goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 (see “EU Commission Formally Announces European Green Deal”). The European Green Deal Investment Plan serves as the European Commission’s (Commission’s) primary vehicle through which funding commitments will be made by seeking to mobilise €1 trillion of public sector and private sector investments. The Commission has also established the Just Transition Mechanism (JTM) to assist those regions that will be more profoundly impacted by the economic and social transformation envisaged.

The legislation includes six key measures to cut greenhouse gas emissions and to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.

By Paul A. Davies and Michael D. Green

The French Parliament has adopted a new climate energy package to tackle the effects of climate change and boost France’s energy transition endeavors to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. As per Article 4.1 of the 2015 Paris Agreement, carbon neutrality is defined in the package as the balance, across the national territory, between anthropic emissions by sources and removal of greenhouse gases by sinks. Six key goals comprise this latest legislation.

The plan’s stricter and more targeted requirements will impact a broader range of provinces, including the Fen-Wei Plains.

By Paul A. Davies and R. Andrew Westgate

China has released a new three-year action plan for 2018 to 2020 to combat air pollution. The previous air pollution action plan, published in 2013, has played a significant role in improving air quality in major cities. China’s updated plan, which was released on July 3, draws on additional information and research to provide more targeted requirements.

Success of the 2013 plan

The former plan set a coal cap across China with varying limits in different provinces. For example, the plan required Beijing to reduce its coal consumption by half from 2015 to 2018. The plan’s success was due in part to the state’s ownership of a large number of China’s worst polluters, making them easier to control. Furthermore, because half of China’s pollution comes from coal-burning power stations, the country needs a less varied range of policies to order to target pollution compared with other countries.

China cuts fossil fuel consumption to achieve clean energy goal, but must carefully balance the consequences for Chinese citizens.

By Paul Davies and Andrew Westgate

In tandem with China’s significant economic growth over the past three decades, coal emissions have soared, increasing from 446 million tonnes in 1990 to 2.6 billion tonnes in 2017. Coal remains, and for some time likely will remain, an important source of fuel for the Chinese economy. However, the harmful effects of coal consumption are evident in the shortening life expectancies of Chinese citizens, particularly in northern China. An individual in the north apparently has an average life expectancy that is approximately 3.1 years shorter than an individual in the south, which has been linked to the burning of coal.[1]

Achieving President Xi Jinping’s promise to “to make the skies blue again” is by no means an easy feat, and the government’s plan is ambitious. Entitled the “Energy Production and Consumption Revolution Strategy”, the plan aims to ensure that emissions reach their highest level in 2030 and decline thereafter, and that by 2050 coal and other fossil fuels make up less than 50% of the country’s energy mix. China has invested heavily in renewable energy, adding more renewable capacity in recent years than any other country.

By Paul Davies and Michael Green

Six Portuguese children are raising funds to sue 47 European countries, asserting that their right to life has been threatened because governments have allegedly failed to adequately deal with climate change.

With the support of lawyers from the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), the children will ask nations in the suit to strengthen their emissions reduction policies, and to commit to keeping the majority of their existing fossil fuel reserves “in the ground”. The 47 countries targeted by the legal action are collectively responsible for approximately 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and include Europe’s “major emitters”, such as Germany, France, and the United Kingdom.

The children, who are between 5 and 14 years old, claim to have been directly affected by Portugal’s worst-ever forest fires in Leirria this summer, which resulted in more than 60 fatalities. Climate change is thought to have exacerbated the Iberian Peninsula’s extreme heatwave that extended the wildfire season from two months (July and August) to five months (June to October).

By Paul Davies and Andrew Westgate

Addressing a car forum in Tianjin, Xin Guobin, Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology, announced that the Chinese government is developing plans to follow in the footsteps of some European countries to phase out fossil fuel-powered vehicles. “Some countries have worked out a timetable to stop production and sales of traditional fuel vehicles. Now the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has launched a study as well, and will work with related departments on a timetable for our country,” Xin said. A phase out of fossil fuel vehicles could have a significant impact on air quality in China, where reports suggest that as many as 1.6 million people die each year from health issues related to air pollution.

With nearly 200 million registered vehicles at the end of 2016, China has the world’s largest car market. New energy vehicles and electric vehicle (EV) batteries are playing an increasingly important role in Beijing’s plans to turn China into a high tech powerhouse. China also has the largest cumulative total of new energy vehicles, ahead of Europe and the United States, which have the second and third largest totals respectively. In 2016, 53% of the 774,000 electric cars sold worldwide were sold in China. In order to meet next year’s demand, forecasters say that China alone needs to make 750,000 new energy vehicles — exceeding the combined worldwide demand in 2016.

By Paul Davies, Michael Green and Kristof Ferenczi

The Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) is the main EU instrument that regulates emissions from industrial installations (including power stations) and came into force on 6 January 2011.

Its objective is to achieve a high level of protection for the environment and human health by reducing harmful industrial emissions. It creates an obligation for all plants to operate using Best Available Techniques (BAT) and to be issued with a permit setting emission limits in line with BAT. Regular sector-based discussions then take place to update BAT to reflect new technology.

As such, by the end of April 2017, the reference document on Best Available Techniques for large combustion plants (BREF) will be subject to approval by a special commission set up by member states under the provisions of Article 75 of the Directive on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC Directive).