The Dutch Scientific Climate Council led the appeal, after member states including Italy and Poland began pushing for concessions in the ongoing emissions trading system revision.
Wester van Gaal
Twelve European advisory councils on climate and sustainable development have joined forces to push back against political pressure to weaken the EU’s carbon pricing system.
“Weakening the ETS would jeopardise global climate action and, with it, the wellbeing of current and future generations,” the councils warned in a joint letter addressed to the presidents of the three EU co-legislators, circulated on Friday (12 June).
The Dutch Scientific Climate Council (WKR) initiated the letter and brought together counterparts including from the Sweden, Denmark and Germany, after several member states including Italy and Poland, began pushing for concessions in the ongoing emissions trading system (ETS) revision.
Other signatories come from Ireland, Portugal, Iceland and Hungary.
Weakening the carbon pricing for the power and industrial sectors, or delaying its expansion to buildings and road transport due next, would “prolong Europe’s dependence on fossil fuels and leave the European Union more vulnerable to future fossil energy crises,” they write.
