Brussels is open to lowering its climate ambition for 2040

The European Commission hopes to be able to reach an agreement “before the summer” with the European Parliament and the member states to guarantee “ambitious” climate targets in 2040, but the Executive is open to softening the 90% cut in CO₂ emissions compared to 1990, which Brussels defended a year ago.

“It’s our starting point. At the same time, I want to ensure that we are sensitive to calls for a bit of pragmatism and about how we are going to make it work,” Climate Action Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said in an interview with several media outlets.

The Dutch politician from the European People’s Party added that he hopes to be able to maintain that goal, but avoided setting red lines.
“I am optimistic that the starting point will also be the point of arrival, and that is also my goal,” he said. The EU has set by law a 55% reduction in emissions by 2030 and the European Commission proposed in February 2024 that, as a next step, the EU bloc cut its emissions by 90% by 2040, as a path to achieving climate neutrality by 2050, i.e. that the European Union emits only the CO₂ it is capable of absorbing.

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