Fit for 55 Package: EU

Fit for 55 Package: EU

Part of: GS Prelims and GS -III – Conservation; Climate change

In news Recently, the European Union (EU) released a new climate proposal, the Fit for 55 package.

• The EU in December 2020 submitted a revised Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement.

What are the Aims of the proposal?

• To deliver the NDC and carbon neutrality goal through proposed changes that would ensure a fair, competitive and green transition by 2030 and beyond.
• To achieve a balance between “regulatory policies” and market-based carbon pricing to avoid the pitfalls of each.

What are the Major Proposals?

• Renewable Sources: To increase the binding target of renewable sources to 40% from 32% earlier and improve energy efficiency by 36% (from 32.5% earlier) by 2030.
• Vehicular Carbon Emissions: It must be cut by 55% by 2030 and by 100% by 2035, which means a phaseout of petrol and diesel vehicles by 2035.
• Emissions Trading System (ETS): Creation of ETS for buildings and road transport to become operational from 2026. ETS are market-based instruments that create incentives to reduce emissions where these are most cost-effective.
• Social Climate Fund: To help low-income citizens and small businesses adjust to the new ETS, the EU proposes the creation of a Social Climate Fund
• Carbon-Border Adjustment Mechanism: It will put a price on imports from places that have carbon-intensive production processes.
• Enhance Sink Capacity: It has set a target to enhance the EU’s sink capacity to 310 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, 

India’s INDC, to be achieved primarily, by 2030

• To reduce the emissions intensity of the Gross Domestic Product by about a third.
• A total of 40% of the installed capacity for electricity will be from non-fossil fuel sources.
• India also promised an additional carbon sink (a means to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere) of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by the year 2030.
• Indian Initiatives to Fight Climate Change:
  • National Clean Air Programme (NCAP)
  • Bharat Stage-VI (BS-VI) emission norms
  • UJALA scheme
  • National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC)
  • Coalition for Disaster Resilience Infrastructure
  • International Solar Alliance

News Source: DTE