14 ‘green’ organizations push for a 90 per cent 2040 climate target

Brussels – Transport & Environment, Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe and Corporate Leaders Group Europe: A total of fourteen European business and investor organizations, local and regional governments, and civil society organizations are calling on the institutions in Brussels ahead of the EU Commission’s 2040 interim climate target proposal to set a “science-based target of at least 90 per cent net emission reductions to limit global temperature rise to less than 1.5°C.”

In a letter addressed today (Jan. 25) to the presidents of the three main EU institutions (Ursula von der Leyen, Charles Michel, Roberta Metsola, Maros Sefcovic, and Wopke Hoekstra) and the ministers of the Belgian presidency, the Coalition for Greater Ambition (HAC) called for “proposing a 2040 climate target of at least 90 per cent net emission reductions from 1990 levels,” for the 2040 interim climate target. The European Commission’s proposal is due next Feb. 6.

This goal, the signatories explain, is in line with the European Scientific Advisory Committee on Climate Change‘s recommendation to achieve a net reduction in emissions of between 90 and 95 per cent by 2040. In the letter, the Coalition stresses the crucial role of EU leadership in setting an ambitious climate target to close the gap in the EU’s pathway to climate neutrality by 2050.

“The diversity, size, and collective expertise of the coalition calling for a science-based goal is compelling,” said Chiara Martinelli, director of CAN Europe, adding that high ambition can lead to a green and just transformation across all sectors, resulting in job creation, economic opportunity, improved public health, poverty reduction, social protection, natural resource conservation and energy security, well before 2040.”

The Climate Law and the interim target

The EU Climate Act (adopted in Brussels in 2021) commits the EU, among other things, to establishing a new interim target for 2040 and an indicative projected EU greenhouse gas budget for the 2030-2050 period, i.e., how much net greenhouse gas emissions can be emitted in that timeframe without jeopardizing the Union’s commitments. European Commissioner for Climate Action, Wopke Hoekstra, and Executive Vice President for the Green Deal, Maros Sefcovic, have made it clear on more than one occasion that they will support the 90 per cent target, although, in fact, the decision will be collegial.

This law set a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55 per cent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. 2040 is the second interim target before reaching carbon neutrality in 2050. The timing of discussions for 2040 is closely linked to the five-year ambition cycle of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, which sets a commitment to limit temperature rise to within 1.5°C. All parties to the agreement are expected to start thinking about the next target this year and then communicate it before the COP29 (29th United Nations Climate Change Conference) to be held next year in Baku, Azerbaijan.