The EU will present a plan on Wednesday to reach its lofty green target of carbon neutrality by 2050, risking a major political dispute over electric vehicles and gasoline pricing.
The dozen draft law papers aim to shift Europe’s economy away from fossil fuel reliance and toward a world of net-zero emissions, reduced pollution, and battery-powered transportation.
The plan, drawn up by the European Commission, effectively bans the sale of new gasoline-powered automobiles from 2035, one of the most radical steps against gas-guzzlers ever, and one that has already alarmed Paris and Berlin.
The ideas, which will be revealed by European Commission Vice President for the Environment Frans Timmermans, will also seek to resurrect the EU’s ailing Emissions Trading System (ETS), the world’s largest carbon market, in which industry pays for the right to pollute.
Once revealed, the legislation will wind their way through the EU’s legislative apparatus, accompanied by high-stakes horse-trading in the European Parliament and among the bloc’s 27 member states, fueled by industrial lobbyists and environmental activists.
The wrangling has already begun, with powerful interests vying for preferential treatment – or more time – before the limits of a greener Europe take effect.
Environmentalists will blast the laws as insufficient, with Greenpeace already calling them “a pyrotechnics display over a garbage dump” if they pass as written.
