Review 2023: Climate-relevant successes
After an eventful year, we take stock: 2023 was a year of extremes. According to the EU's Copernicus service, it was the hottest year in 125,000 years. But 2023 also saw some environmental successes: After many years of negotiations, the UN community of states signed the Convention on the Protection of the High Seas. Despite major hurdles, the EU renaturation law made it to the final rounds of negotiations, and the EU also agreed the Ecodesign Regulation, which is intended to promote the durability of products. And the new EU Supply Chain Act is intended to ensure compliance with human rights and environmental protection along the entire corporate value chain.
Pioneering environmental successes 2023
Agreement on the protection of the high seas
After almost two decades of negotiations, the United Nations finally reached an agreement on the protection of the high seas in March. The treaty is a great success and an important sign that environmental protection can triumph over profit interests and geopolitics. The agreement has created the framework conditions for achieving the 30×30 target. This states that at least 30 percent of the oceans must be placed under strong protection by 2030. This is the only way they can continue to fulfill their important function as climate regulators and species protectors. In September, the agreement was signed by over 80 countries, including Austria, at the UN General Assembly. The treaty must now be ratified quickly so that the agreed goals can be implemented promptly.
Renaturation Act
In 2021, the European Environment Agency found that 81% of protected ecosystems in the EU are in poor or inadequate condition. In 2023, the Restoration Act was launched, a piece of legislation that aims to restore 20 percent of the EU's land and marine areas by 2030 and all degraded areas by 2050. The law is a central part of the "Green Deal", which aims to make the EU climate-neutral by 2050. Despite attempts by the European People's Party (EPP) to block the nature conservation law, it has so far cleared all the hurdles. The European Parliament will now vote on the law in its plenary session in February 2024, followed by approval by the national governments in March.
Where do we stand on the highly controversial EU renaturation law?
EU Commission announces withdrawal from the Energy Charter Treaty
After member states such as Germany, France and Spain had already decided to withdraw, the EU Commission announced in July that it would withdraw from the Energy Charter Treaty. The treaty, which was adopted in 1998, was criticized because it allows fossil fuel companies to take legal action against measures to phase out coal, oil and gas and thus prevent ambitious climate policies. The Swedish energy company Vattenfall, for example, invoked the Energy Charter Treaty in its lawsuit against the German nuclear phase-out.
Protecting the forests
NGOs fought for this for more than two years in the Europe-wide #Together4Forests campaign. Many see this as a historic milestone on the way to better protection of forests. This is because it is the first law in the world to ban trade in products derived from forest destruction.
Ecodesign Regulation: Destruction of new clothing will be prohibited
After years of work by Greenpeace and other organizations, the EU passed a regulation this year that will ban the destruction of new goods such as clothing and shoes in the future. In Austria, every fourth parcel is a return, and research shows that unsold goods are sometimes disposed of. With the new Ecodesign Regulation, the EU is banning this waste of resources. It also sets requirements for durability and reparability in order to stop the fashion industry's environmentally harmful throwaway business model.
Use of microplastics restricted in the EU
The EU Commission has taken another important step towards protecting the environment by adopting measures to restrict the use of microplastics, which are deliberately added to products as part of the REACH regulation.
EU adopts measures to restrict deliberately added microplastics
The new "Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive" (CSDDD)
The new EU supply chain law (CSDDD) is intended to oblige large companies and high-risk corporations to comply with human rights and environmental protection in their value chains and facilitate access to European courts for affected people worldwide.
The new EU supply chain law with its strengths and weaknesses
Curbing methane emissions
Methane is the second largest contributor to climate change after carbon dioxide and a major air pollutant. The first EU-wide methane regulation aims to stop the avoidable release of methane into the atmosphere and minimize methane leaks from fossil fuel companies operating in the EU.
Does COP 28 in Dubai count as a success?
This cannot yet be fully answered, but for the first time in the history of the world climate conferences, the phase-out of fossil fuels - in the form of a "transition" and not a complete phase-out as demanded by environmental activists worldwide - was set out in writing as a goal in the final document.
Laws and agreements must finally be passed and implemented in 2024 and must no longer be delayed or watered down. In Austria, this includes the national soil protection strategy with a binding target value, a strong EU forest protection law must be implemented at EU level and the international plastics agreement at UN level.
