BRUSSELS (AFP) – A delay in setting new emission reduction targets has raised concerns that the European Union (EU) has put its ambitious climate agenda on the back burner, bowing to political headwinds.
A proposal to cut Europe’s planet warming emissions by 90 per cent by 2040 will not be on the table as environment ministers from the bloc’s 27 countries meet in Brussels.
The European Commission had indicated it wanted to make the plan official in the first quarter of the year but it has so far failed to do so – to the worry of green groups and lawmakers.
“Climate was central five years ago. Right now, it’s clearly not,” lamented an EU official.
The 90 per cent reduction in net greenhouse gas emissions relative to 1990 is considered a stepping stone towards the EU’s broader goal to reach climate neutrality by 2050.
The latter is at the heart of the European Green Deal, a landmark package of measures that defined commission chief Ursula von der Leyen’s first term in office but has since come increasingly under fire.
Right and hard-right gains across Europe and the return of Donald Trump to the White House have focused Brussels’ attention on defence and competitiveness – which critics of climate action say is hindered by green rules.
“The failure to publish” the new targets “sends a clear and troubling message about the EU’s commitment to the green transition,” said EU lawmaker with the Left group Dario Tamburrano.
The commission said the 2040 targets would be finalised as soon as possible, adding the “EU’s actions and intentions” were “clear” with a “framework to become a decarbonised economy by 2050” already in place.
“We will continue to be a leading voice for international climate action,” it said.
Yet, it has already fallen behind in its international commitments.
It missed a February United Nations deadline to submit new carbon emissions targets for 2035 under the Paris Agreement. Most nations also failed to get their plans together in time.
Environmentalists see the EU’s dithering as particularly worrying at a time where many look to it for leadership after President Donald Trump ordered the United States to withdraw from the Paris accord.
