The Effort Sharing legislation establishes binding annual greenhouse gas emission targets for Member States for the periods 2013-2020 and 2021-2030. These targets concern emissions from most sectors not included in the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), such as transport, buildings, agriculture and waste.
The Effort Sharing legislation forms part of a set of policies and measures on climate change and energy that will help move Europe towards a low-carbon economy and increase its energy security. The national targets will collectively deliver a reduction of around 10% in total EU emissions from the sectors covered by 2020 and of 30% by 2030, compared with 2005 levels. Together with a 21% cut in emissions covered by the EU ETS by 2020 and 43% by 2030, this will allow the EU to achieve its climate targets for 2020 and 2030.
In 2023, this regulation was amended (through Regulation (EU) 2023/857) in light of the increased ambition (set out in Regulation (EU) 2021/1119) to reduce net GHG emissions by at least 55% compared to 1990 levels by 2030. Following this amendment, the sectors covered need to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 40 % by 2030 compared to 2005 levels.
The same methodology to set updated 2030 national greenhouse gas emission reduction targets will be used, where the national contributions were determined in consideration of the different capacities and cost-efficiency opportunities in Member States so as to ensure a fair and balanced distribution of the effort.
