Source: European Parliament
Analyses on the effectiveness of climate mitigation policies are welcomed and can contribute towards the EUs climate-neutrality objectives.
The Commission routinely follows methodological developments in policy analysis, including those exploiting artificial intelligence, striving to incorporate new techniques in its work, including for the preparation of climate action proposals.
The Commission notes the conclusion on the potential for synergies with the implementation of coherent policy packages. This re-affirms the EU’s approach under the fit for 55 package, implementing a broad range of measures to tackle climate change. Combining pricing and non-pricing measures, such as standards and mandates, can maximise synergistic effects.
The study underlines the effectiveness of carbon pricing, such as the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS[1]), in lowering emissions, particularly in electricity generation and industry.
The Commission also notes the finding that the impact of a specific policy tool may be heterogenous across sectors and countries, calling for caution against overgeneralising estimated effects.
Furthermore, the employed methodology is not fine-tuned to detect smaller emissions reductions, meaning many effective measures with a smaller scope or a more gradual impact on emissions have not been highlighted.
The headline figure identifying only 63 cases of effective interventions is therefore very likely underestimated, with elements of efficient EU climate action most probably being overlooked.
- [1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/EN/legal-content/summary/eu-emissions-trading-system.html