The report was prepared as part of the LIFE TogetherFor1.5 project and implemented by a consortium of European civil society organizations, including the Portuguese environmental association Zero.
Entitled "Is the Long-Term Strategy Process Working? Evidence and Recommendations from Selected National Cases," the document analysed the development or review of long-term strategies in 10 countries, including Portugal.
Based on this work, gaps were identified, such as a general lack of ambition, weak public participation, and poor alignment with other national climate plans, including the National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs).
These gaps, the association states in its statement, jeopardize efforts to achieve climate neutrality by mid-century or earlier and align with the goals of the Paris Agreement.
Of the 10 countries analysed, half had no plan to revise their long-term strategies. Therefore, in many cases, public consultation is either basic or non-existent, coordination between the various climate plans is lacking, or there is no link between long-term strategies and legally binding targets or intermediate objectives.
Portugal receives a more positive assessment in the document, highlighting that it had a participatory and transparent process in developing the Roadmap for Carbon Neutrality 2050 (RNC2050), which "is still relatively well aligned" with the 2030 targets and the process of revising it to align with the targets of the revised PNEC has already begun.
Zero warns that the concrete implementation of the measures "remains very uncertain" and requires political reinforcement.
"Zero understands that Portugal is demonstrating that it is possible to develop a science-based climate strategy that is transparent and open to society, but understands that planning is easy – implementation is what's difficult," it notes in the statement, warning that the RNC2050 is not aligned with the 1.5°C target of the Paris Agreement.
The association states that it is possible to achieve climate neutrality in the EU by 2040 and that this is beneficial for countries, allowing, in Portugal's case, "16 billion euros in savings."
Zero also states that it is urgent to put the Roadmap for Carbon Neutrality 2045 (RNC2045) out for public consultation, which reflects Portugal's commitment to achieving climate neutrality five years earlier.
And warns that it is essential that, at a time of massive rural fires, which emit gigantic amounts of carbon dioxide, "the roadmap answers the question of how to ensure in the long term that the release into the atmosphere of carbon stored and captured in forests, scrubland, and soils does not compromise the country's climate goals in the face of the destruction of this main carbon sink."
The LIFE TogetherFor1.5 project, co-funded by the EU, aims to accelerate EU climate action and align it with the Paris Agreement's 1.5°C target (to prevent temperatures from rising beyond 1.5°C above pre-industrial averages). It is led by CAN Europe (Climate Action Network) and has organizations from 13 states as partners.
Isn't that a disgrace that some countries do not seem to bother about climate actions?
By Jacques De la Haye from Other on 25 Aug 2025, 12:58