European Union countries gave the final approval on Thursday to a new climate target to slash greenhouse gas emissions 90% by 2040, pressing ahead with the bloc’s ambitious climate agenda despite political resistance.
According to the report by Reuters, the new climate target is a hard-fought political compromise, struck by governments and EU lawmakers last year. It is more ambitious than most major economies’ emissions-cutting commitments, including China’s.
In practice, the target will require an 85% emissions reduction from European industries against 1990 levels. The EU will pay developing countries via carbon credits, so they cut emissions on Europe’s behalf to make up the rest, to reach 90%.
The EU agreed the target last year following months of wrangling between countries, such as Spain, which say worsening droughts and wildfires justified more ambitious goals, and those like Poland and Italy, which sought to soften the emissions cuts, arguing that struggling industries cannot afford the upfront investments.
A reinforced majority of EU countries’ ministers gave the final formal sign-off to the legally binding goal at a meeting in Brussels. The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary opposed it. The climate target will now pass into EU law.
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