European Agenda

The “Fit for 55” package — the EU’s legislative package

By 2030, greenhouse gas emissions within the EU are to be reduced by 55% compared to their 1990 values. The “Fit for 55“ package adapts the regulatory framework to this goal.

Interim goal on the way to climate neutrality: The “Fit for 55” package

The package of measures in the "Fit for 55" package presented by the European Commission on 14 July includes two communications and a number of legislative measures to adapt the European Union's energy and climate framework to the new EU climate target.

A central component of the European Green Deal is the raising of the EU-wide climate target for 2030. The Council of EU Member States and the European Parliament have agreed on the new reduction target proposed by the European Commission: By 2030, the European Union's greenhouse gas emissions are to be reduced by 55 percent - instead of the current 40 percent - compared to 1990.

The measures proposed in the "Fit for 55" package include new CO₂ emission standards for cars and vans, a revision of the Charging and Refuelling Infrastructure Directive (formerly AFID, now AFIR), a revision of the EU Emissions Trading and Energy Tax Directive, an amendment to the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) and a proposal for a CO₂ Boundary Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).

There is still a long way to go

The proposed revision of the CO₂ emission standards foresees a tightening of the CO₂ fleet targets. By 2030, CO₂ emissions from passenger cars are to be reduced by 55 percent instead of 37.5 percent, and the reduction target for light commercial vehicles is to be raised from 31 percent to 50 percent. In 2035, CO₂ emissions from passenger cars and light commercial vehicles are to be zero grams, which would effectively ban the internal combustion engine.

So far, these are only legislative proposals by the Commission. In the next step, the legislative proposals must be discussed by the Council of the EU and the European Parliament in the ordinary legislative procedure. First, the Council and the Parliament must each find their own positions on the individual dossiers before they subsequently meet for so-called trialogue negotiations and discuss the laws in their final form. The legislative process is not expected to be completed before the end of 2022.