Lack of a specific impact assessment for the Social Climate Fund
9.12.2021
Question for written answer E-005497/2021
to the Commission
Rule 138
Charlie Weimers (ECR)
According to the Commission, ‘the need for impact assessments, which take into account the views of all those impacted, is more important than ever’[1].
The absence of a specific impact assessment for the EUR 72 billion Social Climate Fund is justified on the grounds that ‘the problems addressed by the proposed Fund and the possible solution directions are analysed in two consecutive impact assessments, therefore no specific impact assessment was carried out’[2].
The impact assessment for the 2030 Climate Target Plan states that with regard to the social and distributional impacts of policy aspects, ‘many of the policy aspects depend on the details of policy proposals, thus only a few policy related considerations can be provided at this stage’[3].
- 1.Why was there no specific mention of the Social Climate Fund in the inception impact assessment for the amendment of the EU Emissions Trading System and can the Commission clarify whether this was also the case for the 2030 Climate Target Plan?
- 2.Can a public consultation and impact assessment that did not take into account or explain the Social Climate Fund fulfil the requirement for an impact assessment to be carried out for all legislative initiatives ‘expected to have significant economic, environmental or social impacts‘[4]?
- 3.Can the Commission clarify why a separate and specific impact assessment was not conducted for the Social Climate Fund?
- [1] Commission Work Programme 2021: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52020DC0690
- [2] Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a Social Climate Fund: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52021PC0568&from=EN.
- [3] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52020SC0176.
- [4] Impact assessments should provide a clear rationale and analysis of weather regulatory intervention is needed and whether it is appropriate to intervene at the EU level, and should also summarise results and highlight trade‑offs between potential economic, social and other impacts associated with various policy options. Impact assessments should be carried out for all legislative initiatives which are ‘expected to have significant environmental or social impacts.’ Interinstitutional Agreement between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission on Better Law-Making: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:L:2016:123:FULL&from=EN