A number of European Union countries are scaling back their ambitions to reduce emissions by 2040 and want to lower the 90% target proposed by the European Commission.
This is reported by Euroactiv.
The European Commission's position
Despite the postponement of the announcement of its official proposal, the EU's highest executive body “will not deviate from the course” and will propose to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90% from 1990 levels by 2040 in the “near future”. This was announced on March 28 after a meeting of EU ministers by Environment Commissioner Jessica Rosewall.
Polish Environment Minister Paulina Hennig-Kloska, who represents her country in the EU Council, confirmed that this body does not have a unanimous position on this issue.
Positions of EU member states
Meanwhile, France and Poland, which is supposed to be an honest mediator during its six-month presidency of this EU body, announced other plans.
“The 2040 goal must be based on realistic measures,” said Agnes Pannier-Runnacher, Minister of Ecological Transition, Biodiversity, Forestry, Marine and Fisheries of France.
She added that nuclear energy should be included in “all initiatives and all legislative texts when we talk about energy policy”.
The Czech Republic said it was “critical” of the 90% vision. Hungary and Slovakia want to postpone the proposal until EU leaders, who must act unanimously, agree on further steps. This could delay the process for months.
Italy has emphasized that it would prefer a lower target. Germany is currently unable to express a clear position – the 90% goal is still under discussion in the negotiations between the Christian Democratic and Social Democratic parties that form the government.
Euroactiv stated that in a few months, Austria has turned from a strong supporter of ambitious climate action to a neutral observer.
“And the anti-90% coalition knows that they don't need to convince everyone, they just need to convince someone,” the publication stated.
Currently, Spain is the largest country that continues to support the 90% goal, followed by Finland and other countries. However, their ranks are thinning, Euroactiv stated.
Recently, EcoPolitic talked about the debate in the EU over the new climate goal.
