The European Commission aims to present the bloc's new climate plan "in time" for a synthesis report being prepared by UN climate body the UNFCCC in September.
Signatories to the Paris climate agreement commit to submitting climate plans, known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs), every five years. The current round should outline emissions reduction plans up to 2035.
"We need to be able to submit the EU's NDC in time for the synthesis report that the UN will produce in September," director general of the commission's climate action directorate Kurt Vandenberghe said. Speaking to the European Parliament's environment committee Vandenberghe said there is still "increasing interest" around the world to work on a global climate deal, despite the US pulling out of the Paris agreement.
Vandenberghe also noted a "very co-operative" China at the UN Cop 29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November 2024. China reiterated today that it would submit an NDC that covered all economic sectors and all greenhouse gases. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and European Council president Antonio Costa participated in the same meeting today, convened by the UN and Brazil's president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
"China is increasingly committing on a voluntary basis to contribute climate finance to the developing world," Vandenberghe said, even as Beijing seeks to retain its status as a "developing" nation. Countries classed as developed by the UNFCCC are expected to deliver climate finance to developing nations.
The EU has yet to officially propose a 2040 climate target. It plans to derive its 2035 goal, which will form the basis of its NDC, from this.
Presenting a 2040 EU CO2 target in September is the right time for German centre-right EPP member Peter Liese. But a 90pc greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction target for 2040 is "really, really ambitious". "I would have preferred a lower target. But we are where we are," Liese said, calling for flexibility for the EU's 2040 GHG reduction target and support for global trading of carbon credits.
"We need this 90pc target. We are open to discuss flexibilities, but we need this target to give predictability to our companies, also because it is our economic interest," French liberal and a former chair of the environment committee Pascal Canfin said.
