The European Commission has recommended that the European Union slash net greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2040, a target that will test political appetite to continue the region’s ambitious fight against climate change ahead of European elections.
While the overall target was within the range recommended by the EU’s official climate science advisers, the EU executive weakened part of the recommendation concerning agriculture, in response to weeks of protests by farmers angry about EU green rules, among other complaints.
A previous draft of the EU target, seen by Reuters, had said agriculture would need to cut non-CO2 emissions 30% by 2040 from 2015 levels, to comply with the overall climate goal. That was removed from the final draft.
The commission said the EU should set an economy-wide 2040 target for 90% net greenhouse gas cuts compared with 1990 levels, confirming drafts of the recommendation previously reported by Reuters.
“We need to make sure we have a balanced approach,” European Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra told the European Parliament, as he unveiled the proposal.
“The vast majority of our citizens sees the effects of climate change, does want protection, but is also worried about what that implies for their livelihood.”
Today’s proposal will kick off political debate on the target, but it will be up to a new EU Commission and Parliament, formed after EU elections in June, to pass the final target.
Drawn up amid political pushback on green laws from some EU governments and lawmakers, the EU plan focused on building an edge in European clean-tech industries and maintaining public support for climate policy as the EU heads into the elections.
“More focus is, however, needed on a framework that ensures that all citizens benefit from the climate transition,” the commission recommendation on the target said.
“Climate action has to bring everybody along, paying particular attention to supporting those who face the greatest challenge,” it said.
The aim is to keep European Union countries on track between the EU’s existing 2030 climate goal and its long-term aim of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 and end Europe’s ongoing contribution to climate change.
‘Very ambitious’ move – European People’s Party
Some of the strongest resistance to tougher environmental action comes from the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), from which President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen hails.
The EPP’s Peter Liese said a more cautious stance is justified.
As the bloc has been implementing its existing 2030 target, he said, “we see more and more how ambitious it is”.
Mr Liese considered a 90% emissions cut to be a “very ambitious” target for 2040 and stressed the need for “the right conditions, the right policy framework”.
Elisa Giannelli, of the E3G climate advocacy group, urged the EU to keep the social impact of its climate policies front of mind.
“Getting this wrong,” she said, “would allow conservative and populist voices to set the direction of the next steps.”
Europe’s climate agenda is entering a difficult political phase as it begins to touch sensitive sectors, such farming, and as traditional industries face fierce green tech competition from China.
A second EU document, also published today, outlined plans to capture and store hundreds of millions of tons of CO2 emissions by 2050 – one of many areas requiring huge investment in new technologies.
The 2040 target would transform Europe’s energy mix, with coal-fuelled power phased out and overall fossil fuel use reduced by 80% and replaced with renewable and nuclear power.
The draft also laid out the cost of failing to tackle climate change, in the form of more destructive extreme weather which could mean additional costs of €2.4 trillion in the EU by 2050 if global warming was not limited to 1.5 Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
The EU had reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 33% in 2022, from 1990 levels.
