SGI Europe Opinion on the 2040 Climate Targets

Executive Summary

• SGI Europe calls for a climate 2040 target of a minimum of 80% emissions reduction, which implies keeping the path defined by the EU Green Deal. The EU should accelerate its decarbonisation efforts in each sector where economically and socially feasible.
• Reducing the EU’s gross emissions shall remain the priority. Carbon offsets will be needed in specific cases, but a determined framework must ensure their efficient use.
• A well-balanced climate implementation plan requires careful examination of the economic, social and environmental dimensions and placing them all at the heart of EU decision-making. It will be essential to take these three dimensions into account to reach climate neutrality by 2050.
• Over the next decade, SGI Europe calls for providing adequate means to reach the climate and energy targets and for the EU to succeed in the green transition. In a competitive geopolitical context and the challenges on raw materials, EU enterprises need investments, long-term visibility, and coherence among EU legislation.
• Social partners have to be involved in the coming mid-term climate talks in devising national green skills plans and must have an active role in ensuring a just transition.
• SGI Europe underlines the importance that European legislations should be technology neutral to enable more industries to contribute to the climate objective.
• The circular economy is a key missing piece of the EU Green Deal Industrial strategy and can enable a more efficient and sustainable element to its plan. SGIs are key players in driving this new economic strategy and will pave the way for other economic actors to follow.
• The most efficient way to deal with residual waste in a sustainable and beneficial manner is via Waste-to-Energy (WtE), and this approach can become an essential piece towards energy independence.
• A qualified building workforce is essential to ensure the high levels of renovation required to decarbonise the building sector and accelerate the rate of building renovation in Europe to implement the political ambitions for 2040 practically.
• SGI Europe supports the anticipation of the EU-ETS beyond 2030, linked to the need for visibility on the future European carbon budget and calls for coordination with other instruments such as the ESR. Defining a carbon budget for the period up to 2050 will give a strong signal.
• To achieve climate neutrality, transport-related emissions must be reduced by 80% by 2040 and 90% by 2050. A modal shift towards rail freight and public passenger transport requires ambitious goals with consistent control measures to create incentives and programmes for the expansion of multimodal transport offers.
• SGI Europe calls upon the European institutions and Member States to put the transversal issue of water quality and availability in Europe on top of the EU Agenda for 2024-2029 and put forward an “EU Blue Deal”.