In the economic and social transformation necessary to stop climate change, there is no magic formula, a master plan.
However, most governments have opted for
climate laws
.
The boom came with the
Paris climate accords
, which pushed governments to establish legal frameworks to organize the decarbonisation process that not only make short-term and long-term emission reduction targets binding, but also explain how to achieve them.
National climate laws, explains a report by the Ecological Institute, "can help bridge the governance gap between the Paris Agreement requirements for short-term actions and long-term goals, and facilitate alignment between the two. ".
More than half of the member states of the
European Union
have a climate law, are developing it or are planning to implement it.
In addition, the European Parliament and the Council - which represents the member states of the EU - reached an agreement on the
European Climate Law
which will serve as a general framework for climate action throughout the community territory and which establishes the emission reduction target of 55% by 2030, in addition to making it legally binding to achieve climate neutrality in 2050.
National climate laws in Europe vary. Some, like the Danish, the French, the German or the Swedish, include long-term objectives; others, like the Austrian or the Bulgarian, only short. Some are more detailed, more complex, longer. Others are practically limited to legislating the commitment to achieve emission reduction targets. It also changes the responsible ministry or ministries or the role of Parliament in decision-making, whether or not they link the objectives to the budget, how they establish the objectives ... But in general, they share similar governance systems, similar planning and implementation models and also for monitoring the results. In part, because some are nourished by others. In part, because for a long time, there are also European demands that set the standard.
R
Eino Kingdom, the pioneer
The laws on the climate are far from new.
One of the first in Europe, and
the first to set long-term goals
, is that of the United Kingdom dating from 2008. Like many other laws of this type, it serves as an umbrella to guide government action towards their achievement.
That is why it has been progressively adapting.
The ultimate goal is not to create a strict legal framework but rather a legal instrument that can encompass all the necessary measures in the fight against climate change and make it possible to achieve the set emission reductions.
British law is undoubtedly the great benchmark in Europe
. Not only because of its age, but also because some of the elements, then novel, of that legislation have been later reflected in other laws on climate, such as the need to involve an independent institution of control, monitoring and advice in compliance with the agreed targets or the notion of successive carbon budgets to organize cuts in emissions.
British law contemplates a
100% reduction in emissions by 2050 compared to 1999.
To achieve this, the government presents five-year carbon budgets, which in practice include up to six of the main greenhouse gases, and which determine how many tons they can be issued in that period of time with a view to achieving the final objective, as well as what concrete measures are to be carried out to achieve the reduction. This form of management, in fact, has inspired other great climate laws such as the Spanish or the French, which have a similar system.
Although it is the government that defines the objectives, the
Committee for Climate Change
, an independent body, has an advisory role and can demand explanations from the executive if it deviates from the goals set by the budget.
This type of independent institution is something that most later laws also have, although with different roles.
In the case of the UK or France, the reports they generate guide policy as governments are obliged to respond;
in Denmark the government has to take a position on the report.
France, the most complete
The French climate law is one of the most comprehensive and complex. While a large part of these laws are limited to establishing a general legal framework,
France details specific policies, amendments to existing codes
that end up leading to specific instruments, from a carbon tax or performance standards for thermal power plants to specific obligations relating to the circular economy or the renovation of buildings. It includes objectives in the energy sector such as increasing the use of renewable energy, reducing the use of fossil fuel or preparing the ground for the deployment of hydrogen; or measures on clean mobility.
Another aspect in which the French climate law is more innovative is financing.
It includes, for example, criteria for financial institutions to assess the carbon footprint of their assets - very in line with European legislation on sustainable finance.
In addition, the integration of climate policy as a cross-cutting element also affects, for example, the budget.
In the annual report that the government must present within the framework of the climate law, the executive must explain, for example, how it is contributing to the financing of the ecological transition.
Sweden, the parliamentarian
One of the peculiarities of the Swedish climate law is that it does not include greenhouse gas emission reduction targets as such, but rather establishes a process for the parliament to decide them. However, Sweden has one of the most ambitious objectives in Europe, since it
aspires to achieve climate neutrality in 2045
, five years before those foreseen by the European Union itself. Also its objective for 2030, which does not include the law but is the subject of a national pact, is more ambitious than the European one.
Another particularity in the case of Sweden is that although it also has an independent expert advisory body, it was created outside the climate protection law.
What the law does explicitly state is that climate and budget policies must be perfectly aligned.
Finland, the farsighted
Most environmental protection laws are focused on long-term objectives
, and in particular, to 2050. But not all include this dimension in the planning of the strategy to achieve them, and none does it like the Finnish Climate Protection Law .
For Finland, looking to the future is essential, and the Finnish planning system underlines the importance of a long-term strategic plan that should inspire all policies, beyond climate action.
Finnish law integrates long-term measures with more concrete short-term actions.
In addition, it includes different scenarios and options to reach the goal of climate neutrality in 2050, thus making it much more flexible to change.
The Ministry of Economy is in charge of the long-term plan, every ten years.
Also every ten years the government must develop a climate change adaptation plan that identifies risks and how to tackle them.
Specific, concrete, medium-term policies are in charge of the Ministry of the Environment.
In addition, the law requires the executive to monitor these measures to ensure that they are sufficient and if not, implement others.
Germany, the unconstitutional
Germany fulfills the myth of the organization and has one of the most elaborate mechanisms when assigning responsibilities in the implementation of climate policies, which are distributed by ministries. This partly explains why
the annual emission reduction targets are broken down by economic sector.
The responsibility for achieving these goals rests directly with the ministries that are responsible for the sector in question. In fact, the expert council that oversees the application of the law, analyzes the potential climate impact of the policies of each ministry. This also helps to debug responsibilities.
But what has made Germany's climate action law famous is not this, but a
ruling from the German Constitutional Court that goes on to say that it is not ambitious enough.
The Court considers that the legislation violates constitutional rights to the extent that it does not sufficiently detail the actions to reduce emissions beyond 2030, which leaves the burden of drastic decisions that will be necessary in future generations. The ruling indicates that the emission cuts that will be necessary in the future "would potentially affect any freedom because almost all areas of human life are related to emissions."
The Constitutional Court urged the government in its ruling to present a concrete plan to reduce emissions before next year. Last week, Germany raised its emission reduction targets to 65% by 2030, with a view to reaching climate neutrality by 2045, five years ahead of schedule. The ruling, and the debate, come at a politically sensitive moment as Germany holds general elections next fall, and the Greens party leading all polls for weeks.
This same Tuesday 25, the leaders of the European Union meet in Brussels with the climate agenda on the table. Following the agreement on the European climate law, the Commission will present next July a battery of proposals and reforms aimed at ensuring that the EU reaches climate neutrality by 2050. Among other things, Brussels will update the targets for reducing climate change. annual emissions; examine the possible extension of the Union's carbon trading scheme; or the possible introduction of a border carbon emissions adjustment mechanism that allows the taxation of products from countries with more lax environmental laws.
The objective of the discussion by the Heads of State and Government is to guide the Commission's action so that the package of measures presented in July is acceptable to the member states themselves.
Still, how to advance in the fight against climate change remains a question that divides the partners, with a clear divide between east and west.
Whatever the Brussels proposal, it will not be easy for some leaders to digest.
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