Energy transition
A committee of European Union lawmakers has approved the bloc’s plan to cut planet-warming net emissions by 90% by 2040 and ease the pressure on domestic industries by allowing them to use foreign carbon credits for up to 5% of the target.
EU climate ministers reached a last-minute deal on the legally binding goal last week, just in time to avoid arriving empty-handed at the U.N. COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil.
The target would let member states buy foreign carbon credits to cover up to 5% of the 90% reduction, effectively lowering the required domestic emissions cut for European industries to 85%.
Political debate
A majority of center-right, socialist and green lawmakers on the European Parliament’s Environment Committee backed the deal Monday, with 49 votes in favor, 33 against and six abstentions. The committee rejected a proposal from the far-right Patriots for Europe group to scrap the climate target entirely.
EU countries and lawmakers must now negotiate the final version before it becomes law. The proposal first needs majority support from the full European Parliament, which is expected to vote Thursday.
The plan’s 85% domestic emissions reduction target, compared with 1990 levels, falls short of the 90% cut that EU scientific advisers say is needed to keep global warming within 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Even so, the EU’s target would stand as one of the most ambitious climate pledges among the world’s major economies.
The deal reflects a hard-fought political compromise among EU governments, some of which have sought to weaken climate measures amid a challenging geopolitical backdrop that has increased defense spending and pressure to support industries affected by U.S. tariffs.
Ondřej Knotek, a European lawmaker from the far-right Patriots for Europe group, said the deal “makes, in my eyes, the life of citizens little bit more expensive.”
Green lawmakers had opposed the use of foreign carbon credits but said they managed to secure stricter rules, including a requirement that the EU only buy credits from countries whose national climate plans align with the Paris Agreement’s temperature goals.