The European Commission has formally launched the public consultation for the elaboration of the European Strategy for the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the long term. The purpose of the consultation is to gather views and opinions on the technological and socioeconomic pathways to be explored in this decarbonization roadmap and identify the relevant challenges and opportunities to bring it to fruition.
Europe invites any interested party, including citizens, companies, NGOs, the scientific community, as well as municipal, regional, national and international authorities to participate in the elaboration of the European Strategy. The consultation includes questions about the ambition level needed in terms of emission reduction, key actions to achieve that transformation, social and economic challenges and opportunities, the role of the consumer, the need for investment and innovation, and also addresses technical issues on the potential of some mitigation options.
The European Commission has set October 10 as the deadline for the submission of comments
The questionnaire is available in all the official languages of the EU, and the average times to complete it are about 25 minutes. The European Commission has set October 10 as the deadline for sending comments. The consultation is now available online.
An opportunity to take action in the European strategy
The Minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, has encouraged all citizens to be part of this consultation process aimed at defining the common European strategy, because “it is an opportunity to participate actively in the configuration of how we want our day to day in the EU of the future. This is about issues that are not alien to our daily life since they have to do with how we move and how we consume. Neither are they alien to the prospects of success of the business activity and the economic prosperity of our country. ” Spain and the EU, together with other countries, are already working on the 2050 Platform to boost emission reduction strategies for the mid of next century in line with the Paris Agreement.
The parties to the Paris Agreement must communicate their long-term decarbonization strategies by 2020
The Paris Agreement urges all countries to keep the global temperature rise well below 2 ° C, and pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5 ° C above pre-industrial levels. The parties to the Paris Agreement must communicate their long-term decarbonization strategies by 2020. Last March, the European Council invited the Commission to present a European strategy proposal to 2050, taking into account national plans. The European Parliament made a similar request.
The results of this public consultation will be an important element for the adoption of the Strategy, which the Commission plans to carry out in late autumn, in time to present it at the next UN Climate Summit in Katowice (COP24).
Instructions of the consultation
To participate in the public consultation, the interested parties are not obliged to complete the entire questionnaire. The different sections include questions on greenhouse gas reductions, consumer impact, economic activity, energy, forests and land exploitation, education and research, financing, current trends, stakeholders and adaptation to climate change. The final section is technical and more focused on sectorial stakeholders (industry, transport, agriculture, territorial management).
Some questions offer a multiple-choice option. Other statements allow open answers so the participants are invited to add comments, although with a limitation in the number of characters per response. For those interested in expressing their points of view in more detail, the application also allows uploading files with more personalized information.