The European division of the environmental organization WWF (WWF-UE) warns that if the EU member states do not resolve the disagreements and reach an agreement on the 2040 emissions reduction target, the regional bloc risks going to the next global climate summit (COP30) with nothing concrete to present.
On Thursday, the leaders of the European countries were gathered in Brussels to once again try to reach a consensus on the cuts in greenhouse gas emissions that must be made by 2040 so that the EU can achieve climate neutrality by the middle of the century. However, once again, there was no agreement.
In July, the European Commission, led by Ursula von der Leyen, proposed a reduction, relative to 1990 levels, of 90% of the EU’s emissions by 2040. That target would follow the one set for 2030, a reduction of at least 55% in the bloc’s greenhouse gas emissions.
In September, the European environment ministers gathered to try to reach an agreement on the 2040 target. They did not succeed. The “brief” was handed on to the leaders of the member states. This week, there again was no understanding and the “brief” was returned to the ministers.
A final attempt to reach a consensus is expected to take place at the beginning of November, just days before COP30 kicks off in the Brazilian city of Belém, so all eyes are on that extraordinary meeting of European environment ministers.
With no declared opposition, the 90% reduction target is the only one on the table.
Alex Mason, head of Climate and Energy at WWF-UE, says it is time to end the game of the “hot potato” and to make a decision “so that the EU does not arrive in Belem empty-handed.”
However, echoing a position already taken by the environmental organization when the 2040 target proposal was presented by the Commission, Mason says that emission reductions cannot depend on offsets in other countries, i.e., international carbon credits.
“The 90% target has not been challenged by EU leaders, so it remains the only number on the table. The question is how much of that will be real cuts in domestic emissions, rather than international offsets. Given how unreliable they proved to be in the past, the right answer should be zero. They may seem good on paper, but the atmosphere cannot be deceived by creative accounting,” he argues.
The decision to be taken at the November ministerial meeting, says WWF-UE, will determine whether the EU arrives at COP30 as “a climate leader or a laggard.”
