The European Commission has unveiled sweeping proposals to reduce carbon emissions across the continent that include caps for buildings and transport for the first time.
Named Fit for 55, the package unveiled yesterday includes 12 policy proposals aimed at reducing EU greenhouse gas emissions by 55 per cent before 2030, compared to 1990 levels.
"Achieving these emission reductions in the next decade is crucial to Europe becoming the world's first climate-neutral continent by 2050," the commission said.
The proposals aim to help deliver the European Green Deal, an ambitious policy to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
"The fossil fuel economy has reached its limits"
"The fossil fuel economy has reached its limits," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. "We want to leave the next generation a healthy planet as well as good jobs and growth that does not hurt our nature." "Europe was the first continent to declare to be climate neutral in 2050, and now we are the very first ones to put a concrete roadmap on the table," she added. "Europe walks the talk on climate policies through innovation, investment and social compensation."
Among the proposals are plans to expand the EU's Emissions Trading System (ETS), which for the first time would require companies to pay for the emissions associated with heating buildings with fossil fuels, effectively imposing a tax on polluters.

In addition, the ...