(European Council) As part of the European Green Deal, with the European Climate Law, the EU has set itself a binding target of achieving climate neutrality by 2050. This requires current greenhouse gas emission levels to drop substantially in the next decades. As an intermediate step towards climate neutrality, the EU has raised its 2030 climate ambition, committing to cutting emissions by at least 55% by 2030.
The EU is working on the revision of its climate, energy and transport-related legislation under the so-called ‘Fit for 55 package’ in order to align current laws with the 2030 and 2050 ambitions. A number of new proposals are also included in the package.
This page includes information on:
- what the Fit for 55 package is
- what the package includes
- the role of the Council
- European Green Deal (background information)
- Climate change: what the EU is doing (background information)
What is the Fit for 55 package?
The Fit for 55 package is a set of proposals to revise and update EU legislation and to put in place new initiatives with the aim of ensuring that EU policies are in line with the climate goals agreed by the Council and the European Parliament.
The package of proposals aims at providing a coherent and balanced framework for reaching the EU’s climate objectives that is fair and socially just, maintains and strengthens innovation and competitiveness of EU industry while ensuring a level playing field vis-à-vis third country economic operators and underpins the EU’s position as leading the way in the global fight against climate change.
The Commission presented the package on 14 July 2021.
What is included in the package?
The Fit for 55 package includes the following legislative proposals and policy initiatives:
- a revision of the EU emissions trading system (EU ETS), including its extension to shipping, revision of the rules for aviation emissions and establishing a separate Emission Trading System for road transport and buildings
- a revision of the effort sharing regulation on member states’ reduction targets in sectors outside the EU ETS
- a revision of the regulation on the inclusion of greenhouse gas emissions and removals from land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF)
- a revision of the renewable energy directive
- a recast of the energy efficiency directive
- a revision of the directive on the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure
- an amendment of the regulation setting CO2 emission standards for cars and vans
- a revision of the energy tax directive
- a carbon border adjustment mechanism
- ReFuelEU Aviation for sustainable aviation fuels
- FuelEU Maritime for a green European maritime space
- a social climate fund
- an EU forest strategy
The Council as co-legislator
EU member states, represented by their ministers within the Council of the EU, are responsible for adopting EU laws, based on legislative proposals presented by the European Commission. In most cases, laws are adopted together with the European Parliament following the ordinary legislative procedure.
The role of the Council
The Council will discuss the Fit for 55 package in order to form a common position on the proposals and initiatives contained in it. The proposals are first presented and discussed at technical level, within the Council’s working parties responsible for the policy area concerned, before they land on the table of EU member states’ ambassadors in Coreper.
Subsequently, EU ministers, in various Council configurations, will exchange views on each proposal and seek agreement on a common position. This forms the basis on which the presidency of the Council then engages with the Parliament in negotiations to reach a common agreement in view of the final adoption of each legislative act.