The European Union executive stuck to its guns Wednesday in proposing far-reaching targets to combat climate change, defying expectations that it would ease off in the face of intense lobbying from heavy industry and even some member states. The European Commission said the 28-member bloc should cut carbon emissions by 40% by 2030, compared with 1990 levels. Heavy industry and utilities as well as some governments had sought a target of 35% . It also proposed that clean energy sources, such as wind and solar, make up at least 27% of the overall energy use by 2030, also compared with 1990 levels. That goal, however, applies to the EU as a whole and not to each member state individually. The commission also put forward legislation to fix structural weakness in the struggling European carbon-trading system, but set out guidelines only for the exploration of shale gas in the face […]