In her letter, von der Leyen opens the door to an increase in credit use, writing: “Part of the target — 3% in the Commission’s proposal, which ministers will further discuss — can be reached with high-quality international credits. Our domestic target … can be lower than 90%, as long as this is compensated by similar … reductions outside of the EU.”
She also responded to a key demand from governments to adjust the bloc’s new carbon price on transport and heating, plans that were controversial from the beginning as they are expected to lead to higher fuel bills for most consumers.
On Tuesday, she writes, the EU’s climate chief Wopke Hoekstra will announce specific tweaks to the measure, addressing “concerns of too high or volatile prices.” The Commission is looking at a “more robust price stabilisation system” as well as options to provide additional support for households to cope with the increased bills.
Von der Leyen also said she shared some governments’ concerns about the carbon price the EU currently imposes on heavy-polluting industries such as steel, and promised a “realistic and feasible” future trajectory, without providing details.
She then pointed to upcoming changes in the EU’s targets for how much carbon dioxide is absorbed by forests and soils, known as LULUCF. Several governments have described the current goals as unrealistic, with some pointing to increased wildfires and others to the needs of their forestry industry.
“Already we can see the challenges that several of you are facing …. We are working on pragmatic solutions to alleviate these challenges, within the existing LULUCF Regulation,” von der Leyen writes.
Carbon markets and the LULUCF rules, together with national emissions targets, are the core sub-targets of the bloc’s climate framework.
The letter also reiterates already announced tweaks and plans, such as an accelerated review of the bloc’s combustion engine phaseout, and contains a lengthy annex outlining all the upcoming announcements.