The European Parliament approved sweeping reforms on Tuesday (April 18) to make EU climate change policy more ambitious, including a revamp of the bloc’s carbon market that is set to raise the cost of pollution in Europe. The European carbon market forces power plants and factories to buy CO2 permits when they pollute. It has cut emissions from these sectors by 43 percent since 2005, but it faces an overhaul to meet the EU’s more ambitious climate change targets. Parliament approved by a large majority the deal reached last year between EU and Parliament negotiators to reform the carbon market to cut emissions by 62% by 2030 compared to 2005 levels. As part of the modernisation, factories will lose the free CO2 allowances they currently receive by 2034, and shipping emissions will be added to the CO2 market from 2024. Lawmakers also backed the EU’s world-first plan to gradually introduce a tax on carbon-intensive imports from 2026, targeting imports of steel, cement, aluminium, fertilisers, electricity and hydrogen. The carbon border tax aims to prevent EU industries from being undercut by more polluting foreign competitors and to remove the temptation for EU companies to relocate to regions with less stringent environmental rules. The laws still need to be finally approved by EU countries, which will assess them in the coming weeks.