After months of division and a meeting that went well into the night, EU environment ministers have reached consensus on the bloc’s climate ambitions — just in time to present the new goals at this year’s international climate summit.
In a last-minute meeting just days before the start of the , ministers agreed to a plan that had long been proposed by the European Commission to reduce the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2040.
However, ministers battled over the degree to which could be used to make up the reduction target. Credits allow nations to buy carbon reductions made elsewhere in projects all over the globe.
While countries like Germany wanted to see only around 3% of the total offset globally through projects like reforestation or renewables, nations including France and Poland wanted to see more of the total covered by offsets, EU sources told DW.
The agreed goal also serves as the basis for a 2035 reduction target for the bloc it is obliged to deliver under the Paris climate accord. The EU wants to reduce emissions by between 66.25% and 72.5% by 2035 compared with 1990 levels.
Under the terms of the 2015 Paris Agreement, world leaders pledged to limit the average global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and pursue efforts to cap it at .
Countries also agreed to renew and communicate their targets every five years. The latest submission deadline was earlier this year, but the EU and a number of other high-emitting nations, including China, missed the date. Remaining states have been feeling the squeeze to announce their latest commitments to moving away from fossil fuels.
The emissions from burning coal, gas and oil are driving the changes in Earth’s climate and leading to increased drought, flooding, storms and deadly heat.
Countries lagging behind on filing goals
So far, . This represents a little more than 60% of global emissions, according to analysts at the World Resources Institute (WRI), which tracks submissions. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said if national climate plans submitted for 2035 are implemented, temperature rise projections would drop from around 2.6 degrees Celsius to 2.3 – a step he called “progress, but nowhere near enough”.
“Current commitments still point to climate breakdown,” he said, speaking as part of a video address on the release of the UN’s new Emissions Gap Report, which tracks efforts to limit global warming, adding that at least a temporary overshoot of the 1.5-degree limit is “inevitable”. He said it was “no reason to surrender” but “a reason to step up and speed up.”
“1.5-degrees by the end of the century remains our North Star and the science is clear, the goal is still within reach. But only if we meaningfully increase our ambition,” Guterres added.
The globe’s biggest emitter, China, formally submitted its national reduction targets early in November. It had previously announed plans to reduce emissions by between 7% and 10% from its peak — a level experts believe it has already reached or will soon reach. While critics called the pledge too low, analysts told DW that China would probably meet and possibly even overshoot its commitment.
“The transition is underway, progress is happening,” said Melanie Robinson, WRI’s director of the global climate, economics and finance program, citing investment in solar power, electric vehicles, and climate finance. However, she added that it was not happening fast enough.
Other big emitters that have formally submitted their commitments under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change — the UN body charged with supporting a global response to the impacts of global warming — such as Australia and Japan, have been criticized for not showing stronger ambition.
Robinson said “leaders need to agree on a decisive global response to get back on track,” adding that countries should reaffirm the 1.5 degree goal, accelerate sector-specific strategies for reducing emissions and clarify pathways for achieving domestic net zero goals.
In an analysis of climate goals published in October, the UN said they show a “progression in terms of quality, credibility and economic coverage.”
While it is often emission-reduction pledges that make headlines, countries also include goals on plans to adapt to the and to pledge finance for developing states.
“The broader picture is of a world which is already paying a huge price from global heating, but which is also nearing positive economic tipping points — towards a safer, healthier, wealthier world, powered by clean energy and climate resilience,” said UN Climate Chief Simon Stiell.
Edited by: Tamsin Walker
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