Transcript The European Union Climate Policy and Related Data Needs Velina Pendolovska European Commission, DG Climate Action Meeting on Climate Change Related Statistics Geneva, 19-20 November.

The European Union Climate
Policy and Related Data Needs
Velina Pendolovska
European Commission, DG Climate Action
Meeting on Climate Change Related Statistics
Geneva, 19-20 November 2012
EU climate policy - introduction
The European Union climate policy – two main dimensions:
• International
• Domestic
The European Union is a Party to the UNFCCC and the KP:
• EU-15 have a collective target under the Kyoto Protocol of -8%
reduction compared with Kyoto base year (mostly 1990)
• Other 10 Member States have similar targets
• Cyprus and Malta have no targets
Domestically, the EU has set binding targets by 2020 under the so
called Climate and Energy Package, part of the Europe 2020 Strategy
on smart, sustainable and inclusive growth
Monitoring, reporting and verification
Monitoring stemming from international obligations under the
UNFCCC:
• Annual greenhouse gas inventory submission of the European
Union
• National communications and biennial reports
Domestically these obligations are set in law by the legally binding
Monitoring Mechanism Decision (MMD, Decision 280/2004/EC)
Currently expanded and revised by a proposal for a new Monitoring
Mechanism Regulation (MMR, not yet in force, COM 2011/789)
Annual Progress report on meeting the Kyoto target submitted by the
Commission to the European Parliament and the Council
Data needs linked to MRV
 Chief data need is for robust greenhouse gas emission inventories,
which requires robust activity data for their compilation:
• Energy statistics
• Waste statistics
• Transport statistics (in aviation detailed data on flights)
• Industrial output statistics
• Agriculture statistics
• Land use, land use change and forestry statistics
• Data from emission registries
Emission inventories are annually reviewed by expert review teams
at the UNFCCC.
Climate and Energy Package
Initially proposed in 2007 and adopted by 2009, the Climate and Energy
Package is a set of EU legislative measures, designed to reach three
core targets by 2020 (known as the "20-20-20 by 2020"):
• 20% reduction in EU greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels;
• 20% increase in the share of EU energy consumption produced from
renewable resources;
• 20% improvement in the EU's energy efficiency
It contains four core legislative acts:
• The revised Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) Directive
• the Effort Sharing Decision (ESD)
• the Renewable Energy Directive and
• the Carbon Capture and Storage Directive
EU Emissions Trading System (ETS)
Backbone of EU climate policy – a "cap and trade" system comprising
over 11,000 installations plus aviation, covering about 40% of GHGs
EU-wide target of -21% by 2020
 The MRV of ETS is done annually following legally-binding
guidelines:
• Approved monitoring plans
• Installation-level reporting
• Verification by accredited bodies
 Carbon leakage list:
• Electricity consumption at NACE 4-digit level
• GVA and trade statistics
Effort Sharing Decision (ESD)
The ESD covers emissions outside the ETS, covering sectors like
transport (except aviation), buildings, agriculture and waste.
National emission targets for 2020, compared with 2005 – altogether
-10% by 2020
Progress measured also on the basis of projections of existing and
future policies and measures
 Relevant statistics include:
• transport statistics
• statistics on households
• statistics on energy efficiency in buildings (not only households,
but comprising all buildings in general)
• waste statistics
• agriculture statistics
Europe 2020 – climate-friendly growth
Europe 2020 - EU's strategy for the decade on smart, sustainable and
inclusive growth
Five ambitious objectives: on employment, innovation, education, social
inclusion and climate/energy (the "20-20-20" targets)
 Relevant statistics go beyond just climate change issues into the area
of green growth and sustainable development:
• economic growth indicators such as GDP, GVA, investment, etc.
• subsidies and environmental taxes
• turnover and employment of the "green" sectors,
• financing of research and development related to "green" sectors
• environmental protection expenditure for climate-related activities
• financial support and level of technology transfer to developing
countries
Adaptation policy
EU's role – to complement the activities done at national, regional or
local level
EU currently preparing its Adaptation Strategy to come out in 2013
 Adaptation policy requires a complex set of information, coming
from a variety of sources (besides NSOs). Relevant data may
include:
• Cost of investment in adaptation, per country or region
• Extreme weather events (number and costs of damage), by type
• Climate-related morbidity and mortality
• Cost of fighting coastal erosion
• Environmental protection expenditure related to climate proofing
For more information
European Commission, Directorate General "Climate Action":
http://ec.europa.eu/clima/news/index_en.htm
"A world you like with a climate you like" EU campaign: http://worldyou-like.europa.eu/en/
Europe 2020 Strategy: http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/index_en.htm
European Climate Adaptation Platform:
http://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu/
European Environment Agency:
http://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/climate
Thank you for your attention!