• Climate.

    Another huge block of ice breaks off from Greenland

  • Virgo data to study climate change and the sea

  • Heartbeat of the Earth: five artists interpret climate data

  • Ursula von der Leyen presents her "Climate Law" under the perplexed gaze of Greta Thunberg

Share

15 September 2020 Over 150 managers and CEOs of European companies have signed an appeal letter asking the EU to 'support the ambition set by the European Green Deal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 '.



Among the signatories, Microsoft, Ikea, Deutsche Bank, Unilever, Google, Edf, and the Italian companies A2A, Acea, Assicurazioni Generali, Bancoposta Fondi, Cattolica Assicurazioni, Danieli, Ef Solare, Ferrovie dello Stato, Riva & Mariani, Poste Vita, Sorgenia, Terna Energy, Sicoi, Enel, Erg,



Plenary in Brussels


On 16 September, Commission President von der Leyen is expected to announce the new 55% target in her speech to the EU Parliament on the state of the Union.

From 9.15 am the European Parliament will take stock of the results obtained so far by the von der Leyen Commission, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic crisis: the EU assembly reports in a note.



In her speech, Ursula von der Leyen should illustrate the impact of the Commission's work in mitigating the economic and health crisis caused by Covid-19 and present her vision for recovery, the fight against climate change and the situation in third countries. close to Europe.

The leaders of the political groups will evaluate the work of the Commission and present


their views.



Funds for 1.8 billion


In a draft obtained and published in full by Euractiv on the eve of the speech on the State of the Union that Ursula von der Leyen will give in the plenary of the European Parliament in Brussels, the Commission clearly states that "if left unchecked , the climate crisis will have existential consequences for our natural environment, for our health and for our lives of a far greater dimension than the current health crisis is having ".



Next Generation Eu and the EU Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-27 (Mff in EU jargon), with a combined firepower of 1.8 billion euros, "will provide significant help to achieve the green and digital transitions that the Europe aspires ", underlines the Commission.



"Tackling the economic crisis effectively, while gaining from the acceleration of the transition to a clean and sustainable economy, requires that these ambitions - he points out - are fully transcribed in the national recovery and resilience plans of the Member States".



Meanwhile, the European Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni has already clarified that at least 37% of the value of the projects envisaged by each national plan must be used to finance the green transition, while the remaining 63% must comply with the 'do no harm' principle, that is, it must not be in contradiction with the objective of the Green Deal, that of achieving climate neutrality by 2050.