EU member states are in "intense" dialogue to design a package setting the bloc's 2040 climate target, Danish climate and energy minister Lars Aagaard said today.
Denmark is sticking to a goal of reaching agreement by the required qualified majority on the 2040 target — a proposed 90pc cut in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, compared with 1990 levels — at a meeting of EU environment ministers on 18 September.
"It's still our aim," said Aagaard. But the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland are seeking more time, and an official pointed to larger countries like France, Germany, and Italy that are yet to take a more definitive position.
EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra has been clear that the EU should set a 2040 target and then derive a 2035 goal from that. The EU is likely to release its updated climate plan for 2035, known as a nationally determined contribution (NDC), this month.
But French and Hungarian ministers in July suggested splitting work on the 2035 NDC and 2040 climate target. Another official said 18 September is premature for many member states to agree on a 2040 goal.
"It's very, very important that Europe agrees on a 90pc [GHG reduction] target for 2040," said Spanish energy state secretary Joan Groizard.
Poland has proposed a limit on use of international carbon credits towards the overall goal at 10pc of 1990 EU net emissions, available from 2031. The commission in July proposed a level of 3pc, although the European Parliament and EU states will have to fix a final figure.
Spain understands there must be room for negotiation, Groizard said.
"But for us, the priority is to decarbonise, as much as possible, Europe's own industry and own emissions," Groizard said.
"I cannot say at this moment that we fully support this target," said Romania's secretary of state for energy Cristian Busoi. "But we need to achieve total decarbonisation in 2050. So maybe this target will help."
Busoi, a former chair of parliament's energy committee, supports climate ministers agreeing to the 2040 target in September. But a diplomat said "a lot" of countries feel EU leaders should decide at their Brussels summit on 23-24 October.
Parliament's environment committee is likely to vote on the target towards the end of September. A final legal text would then need to be agreed with EU states.
If the EU submits its NDC this month, it will allow for its inclusion in a UN report that charts progress towards global climate goals. The report will be published in October, just ahead of the UN Cop 30 climate conference on 10-21 November in Belem, Brazil.
