EU plans to unveil roadmap for 2040 climate target early next year
The European Commission, the bloc’s regulatory arm, plans to outline options for 2040 targets on Feb. 6, according to a tentative schedule on its website
The European Union will unveil a roadmap for its climate target for the next decade in February as the bloc grapples with the challenges posed by its ambitious eventual goal to zero out emissions in the face of high energy prices and growing international competition in clean technologies.
The European Commission, the bloc’s regulatory arm, plans to outline options for 2040 targets on Feb. 6, according to a tentative schedule posted on its website on Tuesday. To reach climate neutrality by 2050 the region’s net emissions should be at least 90% lower by the end of the next decade than in the 1990s, according to recommendations from its scientific advisory board.
By the commission’s own assessment current measures by its member states are lagging behind the group’s 2030 targets.
The clean overhaul in the 27-nation region, legally bound to reduce greenhouse gases by 55% this decade, will affect every corner of the economy, requiring greener consumer lifestyles and more effort from businesses. A key new component of the 2040 goal will be carbon removals, including technologies such as direct air capture or carbon sequestration by farmers and foresters. The EU has signaled that this element could account for around 10% of the target.
Europe wants to be a global leader in the green shift, an increasingly challenging objective after US President Joe Biden’s landmark climate package and competition from China in low-carbon technologies and critical materials. The bloc is still grappling with the effects of an energy crisis triggered by a cut in natural gas supplies from Russia following the war in Ukraine.
While benchmark power prices in Germany, the region’s biggest economy, have eased from last year’s highs, they are still more than twice the levels seen before the war.
The EU indicated in public consultations earlier this year that an emissions cut of 75% to 80% would follow the average trajectory between 2030 and climate neutrality in 2050. Lowering pollution by more than 90% would signify “a very high ambition,” close to reaching climate neutrality in 2040.
The plan for the next decade will come four months before elections to the European Parliament slated for June. A legislative proposal setting the exact goal and detailing steps to reach it, will be put forward only when a new commission takes office.
