EU member states' position on the bloc's 2040 climate target should be finalised on 18 September, after a "very tight process", Danish climate and energy minister Lars Aagaard said today.
"There are also some in this room who think that the answer to competitiveness challenges is to abandon climate targets. That is not what I hear a majority of European countries want," Aagaard told the European Parliament's energy committee today.
Aagaard is overseeing the process, as Denmark holds the six-month rotating EU council presidency until the end of the year. The European Commission earlier this month formally proposed a 2040 goal of a 90pc cut in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, from 1990 levels. The bloc will then use the 2040 target to submit a climate plan, known as a nationally determined contribution (NDC), for a timeframe to 2035, to UN climate body the UNFCCC.
Aargaard will need parliament's approval of the update — the 2040 target — to the bloc's 2021 climate law. But Czech ECR conservative Alexander Vondra referred to voices that see the commission's proposed 90pc net GHG cut as "too draconian".
Vondra also called for more flexibility in the use of international carbon credits under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. The commission proposes limiting their use for domestic reductions to only 3pc of 1990 GHG emissions. "This 3pc is good for a couple of multinationals, some richer states. Poor states, small companies have no chance. Are you willing to compromise, to give more flexibility?" Vondra asked.
Former environment committee chair Pascal Canfin called for robust "flexibilities" when using international carbon credits. "Robust means that it cannot be within the ETS. It has to be negotiated by the commission itself and not having 27 [member state] parallel negotiations," Canfin, a French liberal Renew member, said.
Aagaard did not expand beyond previous statements about "general support" among member states on Article 6 credits, and the need to maintain integrity and credibility. He added that EU states have questioned the "how" and not the "why" of the flexibility mechanism. "And then, of course, there is a discussion between the member states in relation to the volume," Aagaard said.
Spanish Patriots member Hermann Tertsch said his group "will also monitor parliament's timetable, raising concerns about possible deliberate delays, as the group explicitly expressed resistance to the bill." The far-right group opposes a 90pc reduction target for 2040 but has been allocated the legal file. Any delay to the 2040 target would raise questions about the timing of the bloc's NDC submission that itself is to be derived from the 2040 target.
The NDC has to be submitted ahead of the UN Cop 30 climate conference in Belem, Brazil, in November.
