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Against this background, our contribution discusses the effects of this double regulation and provides a clear policy recommendation for the future of EU and German climate policy in the transport and buildings sectors. However, two other groundbreaking climate policy decision in the EU and Germany have passed with much less commotion: the implementation of the German heating and transport fuels emissions trading system (ETS) in 2021 and the 2022 decision of the EU to add a similar ETS to its climate policy instrument mix. In early 2023, far-reaching decisions on climate policy were made in both the EU and Germany. [Extracted from the article]

Upon its adoption in the Directive revising the European Greenhouse Gas Emission Trading Scheme (Directive 2009/29), Article 10(a)8 was heavily criticized by a number of environmental organizations and legal scholars for disturbing the EU ETS' market mechanism. Article 10(a)8 provides for the possibility to co-finance the up to 12 planned European Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) demonstration projects as well as innovative renewable energy demonstration projects through the EU ETS new entrants reserve. The criticism of Article 10(a)8 raises doubts as to the article's consistency with the EU ETS (and its overarching goals) as such and, in essence, questions the measure's proportionality. It is not unthinkable that the EU law principle of proportionality will in future be used to challenge the validity of Article 10a(8). This article argues that it is in that case unlikely that the Court of Justice of the European Union would declare Article 10a(8) to infringe the principle of proportionality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author contemplates on the effort of the European Union (EU) and other government agencies in mitigating global climate change. He expresses optimism about future measures from the government agencies who addressed such crisis. The author discusses the political aspect of the global climate change, and stresses the uncertainty on the legal and political framework of a future climate regime. Moreover, he emphasizes the importance of faith to sustain the continued mitigation action.