The European Commission is planning to propose a "possible limited contribution" of international carbon credits issued under Article 6 of the Paris climate agreement to the EU's 2040 climate target, leaked elements of the legal text indicate.
Alongside an emissions cut target for 2040 of 90pc compared with 1990 levels, the proposed amendment to the EU climate law includes using Article 6 credits from 2036 amounting to a maximum 3pc of the EU's net 1990 emissions, the text notes.
The origin, quality criteria and other conditions of the credits would be regulated by EU law under the proposal, the draft reads.
The commission will also lay out the possible use of domestic permanent carbon removals within the EU emissions trading system, as well as "enhanced flexibility across sectors" for meeting climate targets, the source said.
Commission climate director-general Kurt Vandenberghe suggested earlier this month that its 2040 target proposal could offer more flexibility, without providing details. And some EU member states had expressed interest in using Article 6 credits towards the 2040 goal.
But the approach has been criticised by others for potentially weakening the bloc's climate action.
"These so-called flexibilities are nothing but a backdoor to less climate action. Those who rely on international offsets are not investing in our industry, not in our energy independence and not in our future," the shadow rapporteur for the 2040 target in the European Parliament, Greens MEP Lena Schilling, said today. Her comments echoed earlier findings by research body the Oeko-Institut on the potential risks of using Article 6 credits in the EU.
The commission is scheduled to present its 2040 climate target proposal on 2 July. French president Emmanuel Macron last week called for discussions on the subject to be separated from those on the EU's 2035 climate target under its nationally determined contribution to the Paris deal, which must be decided ahead of the UN Cop 30 climate conference in Belem, Brazil, in November.
Danish ambassador to the EU Carsten Gronbech-Jensen confirmed today that some member states are calling for the decoupling of the two discussions. Denmark takes over the presidency of the EU council from tomorrow.
But there is not much time to prepare for discussions leading up to Cop 30, Gronbech-Jensen warned. "I think it might be somewhat complicated, given the discussion that took place last week," he said. "We'll do all we can to get to a good result."
