The EU Council formally adopted the European Climate Law amendment on March 5, after the plenary adoption by the European Parliament last Month. It legalises the interim 2040 -90% climate target, leading to net climate neutrality in 2050. This includes linking permanent European carbon removals (CRCF) to compensate for residual hard-to-abate emissions under the EU…
Category: Parijs Akkoord
‘Ex Lege Libertas’: de vrijwarende werking van het EU Emissiehandels-systeem
Mijn artikel in het Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Energierecht (NTE) van 2 december 2025 staat online. Door de uitbreiding van de reikwijdte van het ETS en de toenemende ambitie rijst de vraag of het ETS de verplicht deelnemende bedrijven vrijwaart van additionele, individuele CO2-reductieverplichtingen, opgelegd via art. 6:162 BW (onrechtmatige daad) en de maatschappelijke zorgvuldigheidsplicht. Het…
Linking Carbon Removals to the EU ETS – and a net negative emissions target after 2040
IPCC sees a need for CDR – nature-based AND direct air carbon capture and storage – of 7-9 Gt for the 1,5 Degrees target in 2050. The 2024 Emissions Gap Report writes that next NDCs “require a much faster progression through its formative phase to reach gigaton scale by mid-century“, mentioning 30-800 Mt of novel…
Countries should take cooling targets
While we passed the 1,5° Degrees, as the IPCC predicted an overshoot, and reductions will bring temperatures down later, I believe that in addition to emission reduction targets, which only take effect after years, countries should additionally make temperature reduction commitments and start cooling their countries and cities. For example greening EU’s urban areas would…
The Swedish Blueprint: CO2 Deals That Deliver on Climate Goals
At the recent Climate Summit in Baku, November 2024, world leaders took a bold step toward tackling the climate crisis. The summit gave the official green light for the use of carbon markets under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, a mechanism designed to help nations meet their climate commitments while mobilizing much-needed climate finance…
Hague Court of Appeal will not establish an absolute reduction percentage for Shell
In its judgement on appeal the Court, November 12, 2024, considered the question whether Shell has the obligation under Duch Law to reduce all its global CO2 emissions by 45% by 2030 relative to 2019 levels. Milieudefensie et al. have sought a court order to this effect on the basis that Shell acts unlawfully if…
Updates and the future of carbon trading
Last week I joined for Anthesis the 24th annual GHG Trading Workshop by IEA-IETA-EPRI. I gave a presentation on the future of the carbon market, particularly EU #ETS after 2040. I highlighted how the EU ETS can get a #negative emissions target, gradually introducing carbon #removals from EU and global projects. Stephanie La Hoz Theuer of ICAP…
Outcome of CoP28 and difference between Art 6.2. country-to-country CO2 deals & Art 6.4. credit trade
The Global Stocktake Text gives a complete package to keep the 1,5 Degrees target within sight. It introduces a goodbye to fossil fuels use and countries promise to triple renewables power capacity, double energy efficiency, and reduce methane emissions. And it also asks to accelerate work on Article 6, including the carbon market and carbon removals….