‘Binding pledge’ puts EU on firm path to hitting climate targets

The European Union has agreed, pending formal approval, to legally commit to reaching its 2050 climate change goals, including a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030.

After 14 hours of talks on Wednesday, negotiators from the European Parliament and EU member states announced that they had agreed on a European climate law that commits the bloc to reaching climate neutrality by 2050.

“The Climate Law sets the EU on a green path for a generation,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen after the marathon meeting.

“It is our binding pledge to our children and grandchildren,” she added.

Negotiators sought to make the deal ahead of a key virtual summit on Thursday and Friday, when around 40 world leaders will promote their pledges to protect the planet.

Previously, the EU’s target was to reduce its greenhouse emissions by 40 percent by the end of this decade, compared with 1990 levels.

German broadcaster Deutsche Welle said the agreement still needs formal approval from the EU Parliament and the national governments of member states.

Commission Executive VicePresident Frans Timmermans said in a statement that the deal was a “landmark moment” for the EU.

“We have reached an ambitious agreement to write our climate neutrality target into binding legislation, as a guide to our policies for the next 30 years,” Timmermans said.

The EU said that by 2019, emissions from the bloc were already 24 percent lower than in 1990. Environmental campaigners have sought a cut of 65 percent, and EU lawmakers had wanted a 60 percent target by 2030, Reuters reported.

A major package of EU regulations expected in June will include proposals to revamp the EU carbon market, tougher CO2 standards for cars, and a border tariff to impose CO2 costs on imports of polluting goods, according to Reuters.

The EU regards the Climate Law as a framework and says that, if adopted globally, it would limit global temperature increases to 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels and avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

EU climate action is at the heart of its Green Deal initiative, which aims to “cut greenhouse gas emissions, invest in cutting-edge research and innovation, and preserve Europe’s natural environment”.

By setting robust climate targets, the EU hopes to ramp up the ambitions of major emitters ahead of the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP26, in Glasgow in November.

The US government said last month that the virtual climate summit on Thursday and Friday paves the way for COP26 and “underscores the urgency and the economic benefits of stronger climate action”.

We have reached an ambitious agreement to write our climate neutrality target into binding legislation, as a guide to our policies for the next 30 years.”

Frans Timmermans, executive vice-president of the European Commission