Paris agreement

The Paris Agreement has committed its signatories to having greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions peak as soon as possible. What does that mean for climate targets?

The goal of the Paris Agreement translates into “holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C”.

The EU and all its member states have signed and ratified the Paris Agreement. In line with this commitment, EU countries have agreed to set the EU on course to becoming a climate-neutral economy and society by 2050.

As required by the agreement, the EU submitted its long-term emission reduction strategy and its updated climate plans before the end of 2020, pledging to reduce EU emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels. Such a goal will be a key driver for robust decarbonisation policies in all sectors of the economy, and transport can play a major role given that it is the EU’s biggest climate problem.

What happens next?

In T&E we are working on this process with two main goals:

  1. To ensure that the overall 2050 climate target is truly compliant with the Paris Agreement and put the EU in a trajectory to decarbonise before the middle of the century;
  2. To guarantee that transport is properly reflected throughout the process as the sector with the largest emissions while showing all existing and potential decarbonisation options in the sector. T&E has produced roadmaps for Europes key transport modes, with a vision for full decarbonisation by 2050. You can consult our roadmaps for road transport, aviation and shipping.