2030 GHG Target

Policy Engagement Overview

The aggregated evidence of corporate and industry lobbying on the update of the 2030 Climate Target shows mostly supportive engagement from most sectors, although with negative lobbying from cross-sector associations and heavy industry.

Long-term Lobbying Trends

The utilities sector appeared to be a powerful positive force for increasing the 2030 target to at least 55%, with highly supportive lobbying in 2019-21 from key industry associations, including Eurelectric and WindEurope, and from corporate actors in the sector such as EDF, Enel and Fortum.

The consumer products and technology sector also strongly supported the increase to 55% emissions reductions, such as Coca-Cola and Nestlé.

A notable proportion of corporate and industry lobbying was not supportive of increasing the policy’s ambition. This included lobbying from powerful industry associations in 2020 and 2021 such as BusinessEurope, the BDI) and the International Federation of Industrial Energy Consumers (IFIEC), which stress the risk of carbon leakage and the uncertainty and insecurity increased climate ambition would cause for businesses. Industry associations representing heavy industry, such as CEMBUREAU and Eurofer, argued that the challenges outweigh the opportunities that arise from higher ambition and stressed the difficulties in achieving the 55% target.

After Commission adoption

Some entities evolved their positions on the 2030 target after it was formally adopted by the EU Commission in April 2021. Eurofer and the Verband der Chemischen Industrie (German Chemical Industry Association), which had been lobbying negatively on the proposed increase, have become supportive of the new goal.

Impacts on Policy Ambition

By considering the potential scenarios in the EU Commission's original Impact Assessment Report for the 2030 Climate Target, and comparing this to the final proposal, a gauge of the impact of industry lobbying can be taken. In this case, strongly supportive engagement by much of EU industry led to more ambitious positions by the EU Commission, Parliament and Council.

• 2030 Target: A net target of at least 55% has been approved by EU policymakers, increased from 40%. However, the target is not sufficient to limit warming to 1.5°C, according to a United Nations Environment Programme 2019 report, which estimated that the EU must increase its interim target in 2030 to 68% to comply with the goal.
• It is possible that lobbying prior to 2019 when the increase was proposed which was unsupportive of increasing the 2030 target above 40%, from entities including Cefic, BusinessEurope and FuelsEurope, dissuaded the EU Commission from proposing a higher target in line with 1.5°C

Policy Progress

The EU Council and Parliament reached an agreement on the 2030 target in April 2021. The target is now being implemented via the ‘Fit for 55 package’.