After marathon negotiations, European Union (EU) climate ministers on Wednesday provisionally backed a new climate goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90% from 1990 levels by 2040.
The decision ahead of the COP30 climate summit in Brazil comes with built-in flexibilities that analysts say may significantly weaken the effective ambition of the target.
Under the agreement, member states would be allowed to offset up to 5% of the 90% reduction by purchasing international carbon credits—reducing the domestic cut requirement to roughly 85%.
Additionally, a future option could permit another 5% of the target to be covered via credits.
While most of the EU27 countries backed the deal, Bulgaria and Belgium abstained, and Hungary, Slovakia and Poland voted against.
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Despite formal adoption still pending a vote in the European Parliament and negotiations with the European Council, observers say the headline figure of 90% masks the concessions embedded in the policy.
Commenting on the deal, several environmental groups criticized it for effectively shifting responsibility abroad.
Greenpeace’s Thomas Gelin called the plan “offshore carbon laundering” that weakens the bloc’s real ambition, while Jeroen Gerlag of the Climate Group said the EU is keeping its 90% target “on paper” but is turning part of its responsibility into “someone else’s problem.”
The new Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) reaffirms the EU’s goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 and outlines an indicative 2035 contribution of 66.25% to 72.5% on the path to carbon neutrality by 2050.
However, ministers failed to lock in a concrete 2035 target, a move Greenpeace said undermines the credibility of the EU’s 2040 goal and erodes its position as a climate leader heading into COP30.
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