Next week the Commission should publish a new legislative proposal on the EU Effort Sharing Decision (ESD) for 2021-2030. Today Sandbag reveals that a rebalancing of emission reduction effort around the EU under the ESD could incentivise an additional reduction of 2 billion tonnes of CO2 over the period. This is equivalent to more than two years of Germany’s CO2 emissions.
Sandbag’s new report recommends that the ESD should include enhanced flexibility to ensure that these emission reductions can be realised cost-effectively and fairly. This can be delivered through a European Project-Based Mechanism; an internal market in the ESD giving Member States the flexibility to meet more ambitious national targets by using credits from projects undertaken where the emission reductions are the cheapest.