European Union governments are considering a plan to set an intermediate emissions-cut goal for 2040 in a bid to keep the bloc on track for climate neutrality, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg.
Diplomats from the EU’s 27 nations are set to discuss next week a draft law that would make binding the region’s objective to become the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050. Germany, which chairs meetings of member states as the current holder of the bloc’s rotating presidency, proposed the landmark regulation be amended to include a more detailed trajectory.
“A process should be established to determine the Union’s climate target for 2040,” according to the German presidency proposal sent to national governments ahead of their two-day videoconference starting Sept. 7.
The European Climate Law will become the legal foundation of the Green Deal, an unprecedented environmental clean-up that would affect everything from energy to transport and farming. To enter into force, it needs to be endorsed by member states in the Council of the EU and the European Parliament.
Germany is aiming to secure an agreement on the position of member states in October and further amendments may be proposed in the coming weeks. The European Parliament is also targeting a decision on its stance on the law next month. In the next stage, those two institutions and the European Commission will start negotiations about the final shape of the climate law.
Before the institutions set their own positions on the law, the Commission plans a crucial addition: a stricter target for 2030. The proposal, due to be unveiled by the bloc’s executive arm toward the end of September, may call for a 55% carbon reduction from 1990 levels. The current goal is a 40% cut.
Under the German presidency document, which was drafted based on talks among EU national governments in the previous months, the next benchmark should be a CO2-cuts target for 2040, which would have to be set by 2024.
Member states are also seeking to block the commission’s attempt at winning more powers to set intermediate targets. They want the trajectory to 2050 to continue being approved by national governments and the European Parliament.