Ribera calls for staying the course and not “burning money” in the face of crucial_CO2 negotiation in 2040

The European leader asked ministers for ambition ahead of this crucial event, alluding to COP30.

The countries of the European Union will try to agree on their CO2 emission reduction target by 2040, with a 90% cut to 1990 as a starting point, but full of flexibilities, emergency brakes and review clauses to reach a complicated qualified majority among the Twenty-Seven.

“Delaying climate action or reducing targets below the planned path is an invitation to burn money and miss investment opportunities. It is a sign of weakness and incoherence that would have enormous economic and human costs,” said the Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, Teresa Ribera. The Spanish Social Democrat, already in Brazil preparing for the COP30 climate summit that starts in Belém next Monday, asked the ministers for ambition in the face of this crucial meeting, in which the European Commission will be represented by the Commissioner for Climate Action, Wopke Hoekstra, and Spain by the third vice-president, Sara Aagensen. The cut by 2040 will be an intermediate point between the 55% of CO2 that the EU must reduce by 2030 and the climate neutrality already agreed by mid-century, with implications for transport, agriculture, industry or energy.

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