The European Commission unveils on Wednesday already contested proposals to accelerate the European Union's green transition and achieve its greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.

Among them, the end of gasoline-powered cars, a kerosene tax on the airline industry and the reform of the carbon market.

End of gasoline cars, kerosene tax in the air, reform of the carbon market affecting the price of fuels ... Brussels unveils on Wednesday all-out proposals, already contested, to accelerate the green transition of the European Union (EU) and achieve its greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets.

The European Commission will present twelve legislative texts setting the music for its "Green Pact", which will then be negotiated between MEPs and Member States, in order to place the continent in a position to reduce its emissions by 55% by 2030 compared to 1990.

In this panoply of very technical measures, Brussels would consider in particular, according to several sources, the end of the marketing of gasoline cars as of 2035.

But the main pillar of the project is a considerable expansion of the European carbon market (ETS) established in 2005, where the "permits to pollute" governing certain sectors (electricity, steelmakers, cement, commercial aviation for flights in the United States) are exchanged. EU).

These companies are given emission allowances, which they can resell if they pollute less than expected, but these sectors only cover 40% of the continent's emissions.

The European executive therefore wants to extend the device to maritime transport, as well as road transport and construction, according to a project consulted by AFP.

Fuels and heating oil would be increased according to the price per tonne of carbon (which has doubled in two years), a prospect which worries from a social point of view.

"The ETS is a rudimentary tool, with the same price of CO² everywhere. For transport, the building, the situation is different from one country to another", warns the MEP Bas Eickhout (Greens).

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"High political cost"

In spite of specific aid, households "the most modest, which do not have access to low-carbon alternatives" would be penalized, protests the NGO Réseau Action Climat, denouncing a "dangerous" proposal.

"The political cost would be extremely high for a very low climate gain. This toxic measure would generate unnecessary tension, giving ground to grind against the whole of the Green Pact", abounds Pascal Canfin, president (Renew, liberals) of the Environment commission in the European Parliament.

The Commission is also expected on the proposed "carbon tax" at the borders, in the face of hostility from EU trading partners who cry "protectionism".

The aim is to discourage relocations to third countries with less stringent standards, against a backdrop of soaring carbon prices.

According to the project seen by AFP, certain imports (steel, cement, electricity, etc.) would gradually be subject to the purchase of "emission certificates" based on the price of carbon in the EU, an "adjustment" to the same rules governing European producers.

In return, the free allowances distributed to EU manufacturers and airlines to face foreign competition would gradually decrease between 2026 and 2036 according to the Context site.

If the expected revenues - and the use of which remains debated - will be modest (up to 14 billion euros per year), MEPs could "widen the scope" of this unprecedented device in the world, and weigh for a faster application , emphasizes Pascal Canfin.

Anxious to preserve jobs, the EPP (right) pleads for a lasting maintenance of free allocations to companies, as demanded by steelmakers and aluminum producers.

They come up against a common front of environmental NGOs and elected Greens, who demand their immediate removal, "otherwise there would be no incentive signal", according to MEP Michael Bloss, who also considers "imperative" to set a carbon price floor.

"Distortion of competition"

The Commission should also recommend increased efforts to reduce emissions for sectors excluded from the carbon market (agriculture, waste, part of industry, etc.).

But the Twenty-Seven are torn apart over the criteria for distributing these efforts, several Eastern countries - dependent on coal - being alarmed at the economic cost.

The airline itself would be targeted by a draft kerosene tax for intra-European flights, with the exception of cargo planes and private jets: the big companies of the continent have already denounced a "distortion of competition" with the rest of the globe.

The energy saving objectives assigned to the States will be clearly raised, and Brussels will propose to introduce a CO2 absorption target via natural "carbon sinks" (forests).

"This could become a screen to camouflage the insufficiency of emission reductions elsewhere," worries Greenpeace, especially as the increase in the share of renewable energies would include biomass ... extracted from deforested forests.

"The EU must stop 'greenwashing' and support fossil fuels, polluting transport, industrial breeding and deforestation", annoys Jorgo Riss, European director of Greenpeace, denouncing "insufficient objectives with regard to science".