EU net zero by 2050?

The incoming EU Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, looks set to press for EU legislation that would to mirror the UK's legally binding target of net zero emissions by 2050.

While much of the detail has yet to follow, this ambitious proposal (part of a "green new deal" championed by the new Commission president) looks likely to focus on transport and agricultural emissions as well as an industrial strategy and funding for the development of green technologies.

All of this will sound very familiar to readers of the UK Committee on Climate Change's proposed roadmap to net zero, which adds to the irony of these measures being put forward by a Commission which, at present, lacks a UK commissioner.

The Commission's stated goal is to make fast progress with this plan, looking to bring forward proposals within 100 days of taking office on 1 December.  It remains to be seen whether ambition is matched by reality, just as it remains to be seen whether the new UK government (whatever its makeup) will act with the same dynamic urgency following 12 December.

The first EU-wide “climate law” would enshrine a legally binding target of reaching net-zero carbon by 2050, and Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions would be halved by 2030, under a set of proposals being discussed by the incoming European commission

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/29/first-eu-wide-climate-law-to-set-net-zero-carbon-target-by-2050