Discussion about the ‘magic 90%’ for 2040 must not cloud the debate on the international process any further / The European Union has already embarrassed itself / Better to make compromises now than accept endless deadlock

The European Parliament's Environment Committee has voted by a large majority in favour of an ambitious climate target for 2035. “We call on the environment ministers to adopt a target at the upper end of the range under discussion as soon as possible,” said Peter Liese, spokesperson for environmental and climate policy for the largest political group in the European Parliament (EPP, Christian Democrats).

In September, the environment ministers were unable to agree on the so-called ‘NDC’ and merely wrote a non-binding ‘letter of intent’ to the United Nations, in which they announced that they would adopt a target of between 66.25% and 72.5%. This was the second time that the European Union had missed a UN deadline. Many other countries are now hiding behind the EU and have also failed to report any targets. In contrast, the UK, Japan, Brazil, and others had already reported targets before the first deadline in January, with China and Australia following suit in September. 

“Regardless of one's stance on climate policy, this is a catastrophe. It is detrimental to ambitious climate protection if the European Union loses its leadership role, and it is also detrimental to competitiveness if we as the European Union are the reason why our member states do not set climate targets. That is why the EU must find a way out of this deadlock very quickly. I am very pleased that we have reached an agreement on this here in Parliament. The fact that the Council has not yet taken a decision is due to those blocking, such as French President Macron and the Visegrád states, but it is also due to those who are sticking to a 90% target for 2040, even though it is clear that a majority cannot be achieved. I believe we now need pragmatic solutions, and if the target for 2040 is slightly below 90%, but in return we finally get a climate target for 2035 that the world has been waiting for a long time, that would be a good compromise,” emphasized MEP Peter Liese.