Europe to unveil sweeping climate change policy blueprint

The EU will on Wednesday unveil its most ambitious plan yet to tackle climate change, aiming to pull ahead in the race among the world's biggest economies to turn far-off green goals into concrete action this decade. The EC, which drafts EU policies, will set out in painstaking detail how the bloc's 27 countries can meet their collective goal to net reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% from 1990 levels by 2030. read more That is expected to mean raising the cost of emitting carbon for heating, transport and manufacturing, taxing high-carbon aviation and shipping fuels that have not been taxed before, and charging importers at the border for carbon they emitted to make products such as cement and steel abroad. "It's going to be the biggest climate package in our history," said Jytte Guteland, the Swedish lawmaker who was European Parliament's lead negotiator on the EU's climate targets. "Our economic sectors, our industries, everyone has to adapt to something new." The measures will require approval by member states and the European parliament. They are likely to face intense lobbying from some industrial sectors, from poorer European member states who want to protect their citizens from price hikes, and from higher polluting countries facing a more costly transition. A diplomat from one EU country said the success of the package would rest on its ability to be "realistic" and socially fair, while not destabilising the economy. As climate change impacts worsen around the world, Brussels will propose 12 policies to take aim at most big sources of emissions, including power plants, factories, cars, planes and heating systems in buildings.<br/>