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 PackageInitially 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 growthEurope 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 informationEuropean 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://world-you-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!