Representatives of the European Commission, the bloc’s parliament and member states in the EU Council reached a tentative agreement on the final shape of the climate law at a meeting in Brussels in the early hours of Wednesday, according to Denmark, which holds the nation group’s rotating presidency.“Today, Europe has united around our clear direction for climate policy — based in science and protecting our security and competitiveness,” said Danish Climate Minister Lars Aagaard. “The target delivers on the need for climate action while safeguarding our competitiveness and security.”
A key element of the deal is the EU allowing international carbon credits to account for a greater share of emissions reductions. The limit was set at 5 percentage points of emissions reductions, compared with 3 percentage points originally proposed by the commission. That means the effective goal for the 27-nation bloc will be to reduce domestic emissions by 85%.
The EU already has two binding targets: net zero emissions in 2050 and a 55% cut by 2030 from 1990 levels.
