Comprehensive revision and implementation of Member States’ National Energy and Climate Plans (NECP) will play a key role in achieving higher climate and energy ambition in the EU by 2030. While NECPs still need to be updated in order to be aligned with and implement the EU’s higher climate and energy ambition, it is still important to make sure that Member States are on track to implement their current Plans and ready to step up their game.
The NECP Tracker tool launched today by the Unify project reveals data to monitor the implementation of 10 Member States’ current NECPs. The tool covers Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain, and it looks into greenhouse gas emission reduction pathways, sectoral emission reduction indicators and some energy transition indicators for these countries. Through comparing the most recently released data (from 2018 or 2019 depending on the country) with NECP trajectories, it gives a clear indication of where Member States stand in terms of implementing targets and trajectories from their current NECPs.
Nationally binding emission reduction targets under the Effort Sharing Regulation, as well as nationally binding renewables and energy efficiency targets will play a crucial role in achieving the EU’s enhanced climate target. The NECP Tracker proves this claim by showing how difficult it becomes to monitor sectoral policies and hold Member States accountable when these targets and trajectories are missing.
Zélie Victor, from Réseau Action France said : “The NECP tracker is an opportunity to monitor and compare EU Member States’ performance on climate action and hold them accountable. Results show that some Member States are clearly off track to reach their current targets and far from being aligned with the Green Deal objectives. The European Commission should increase national binding targets under the Effort Sharing Regulation but also propose nationally binding renewables and energy efficiency targets if the EU is serious about its climate ambition. There is also a clear need to strengthen the climate governance structure to ensure that updated NECPs are aligned with the EU’s enhanced climate and energy policies. In the coming years, the NECP tracker will keep monitoring progress in order to prevent Member State Governments from procrastinating climate action.”
Wendel Trio, from Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe said: “National Energy and Climate Plans will play a key role in implementing increased climate ambition in Europe. The European Commission’s upcoming “Fit for 55” proposals must set the scene for strengthening nationally binding climate and energy targets in NECPs.
This tool shows where Member States fail and why we desperately need to keep nationally binding targets under the Effort Sharing Regulation covering emissions from road transport, buildings and agriculture.”
Wojciech Szymalski, Institute for Sustainable Development Foundation, Poland: “ The NECP tracker shows that Poland is currently not doing as much as other Member States. We are sailing in the same boat and the rows should row in harmony. There is a huge wave of transformation ahead of us: the NECP tracker tells us how huge it is. Poland needs to step up its climate action in the sectors which have been long neglected, such as heating, transport or agriculture.”
Ana Márquez, from SEO/BirdLife Spain said: “To reach its economy-wide 2030-target, Spain should have an annual rate reduction of around 3.1%, but the emissions curve has practically not changed since 2013. On one hand, further efforts need to be done in all economic sectors, since while some are already reducing their emissions, others continue to increase them. On the other hand and more importantly, these efforts should be aligned with the increased EU target of at least 55% net emissions reductions. ”
Katerina Davidova, Centre for Transport and Energy, Czechia: “The Czech Republic has until now had very unambitious climate targets, but even then it didn’t manage to fulfill all of them. Now we see the trajectory of Czech emissions needs to go steeply down in the upcoming 10 years, but the NECP is not doing enough to achieve it. Apart from very slow development of renewables, the Czech Republic also has a huge problem with its emissions from land use and forestry – which have become emission contributors as opposed to sinks. If this worrying trend persists, the country will struggle to reach its 2030 targets.”
ENDS
Notes to the Editor
The NECP Tracker can be found here
The document on “how to use the tool” can be found here.
Main takeaways from Member States’ NECPs can be found here.
Contact:
Goksen Sahin, Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe, Project Manager, goksen@caneurope.org
