Climate change: EU’s bold new plan

The European Union has announced multiple new climate change proposals as the continent continues its push to become carbon neutral by 2050

The 12 proposals include plans to tax jet fuel and prevent the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles within the next 20 years.

By 2050, Europe aims to become the world’s first climate-neutral continent

The measures will likely increase the cost of commercial aviation for consumers and also increase household power bills.

Financial assistance will be provided to Europeans who install insulation and implement other “green” measures in their households.

But, the changes are yet to be approved by the bloc’s 27 member states and the E-U parliament – and this task may prove difficult.

Already, significant infighting has begun within the European Commission as further details are altered and updated.

“By acting now we can do things another way… and choose a better, healthier and more prosperous way for the future,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday.

“It is our generational task… [to secure] the wellbeing of not only our generation, but of our children and grandchildren. Europe is ready to lead the way.”

Meanwhile, the EU’s policy chief says “we’re also going to ask a lot of our industries, but we do it for good cause. We do it to give humanity a fighting chance.”

The EU is planning on becoming the first big economic power to impose a levy on imports based on their carbon footprint

The centrepiece of the EU’s bid to sharply reduce emissions across the economy is a revamp of the bloc’s carbon market, known as the Emissions Trading System.

The EU now proposes to extend the scheme to cover the shipping industry for the first time

At international level, the EU will continue to lead international negotiations to increase the ambition of major emitters ahead of the United Nations climate change conference in Glasgow (COP26).