Climate: EU will reduce emissions by at least 55% by 2030

The European Parliament and the EU Member States have agreed on the goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions "at least" by 55% by 2030: the European Commission states in a statement.

"The European climate law establishes the EU's commitment to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 and the intermediate goal of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels".

The agreement on the climate law provides for climate neutrality by 2050 and cutting emissions by 2030 by at least 55% compared to 1990 levels. The result of the negotiations, which lasted all night, allows the EU to formalize its strengthened commitment as part of the Paris Agreement, on the eve of the summit of world leaders on climate convened by Joe Biden for 22 and 23 April.

The emission reduction targets remain those proposed by the European Commission in 2020 and endorsed by EU leaders last December. But on the 2030 target, as requested by the European Parliament, the negotiators introduced a cap (225 million tons) on the contribution of CO2 removals from forests and technologies. A detail that, according to the president of the environment commission of the European Parliament Pascal Canfin, translates into "an effective reduction of 57%". The rest will have to be all reduction effort. Climate neutrality by 2050, as established by EU leaders, remains instead a collective objective of the Union and not for each single State, as the European Parliament wanted. Other elements of the agreement include theestablishment of an independent European scientific advisory committee on climate change and an intermediate climate goal to be achieved by 2040. The agreement will now have to be definitively approved by the Council (member countries) and by the plenary of the European Parliament.

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" commented European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcoming the agreement reached. Von der Leyen also stressed the importance of the goals set to offer a better perspective to the next generations. "With this agreement, we are sending a strong signal to the world ahead of the leading climate summit on April 22", commented JoÆo Pedro Matos Fernandes, the Portuguese climate minister in his capacity as current president of the EU Environment Council.

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. It is an unequivocal sign of the EU's determination to fight climate change and bodes well for the climate summit of 22". Thus Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa commenting on the agreement reached during the night between the EU institutions on the climate law. Portugal holds the presidency of the EU for six months.