Letter from 11 EU countries to Brussels for “ambitious” 2040 climate target. Italy not included

Brussels – An ambitious interim climate target to 2040 and the implementation of the Fit for 55 climate package: in a letter addressed  to the European Commission yesterday (January 25), 11 EU countries called for an ambitious interim emissions reduction target ahead of the proposal Brussels is scheduled to submit on February 6.

11 delegations, without Italy. “We strongly encourage the European Commission in its upcoming communication to recommend an ambitious EU climate target for 2040. At the same time, we must ensure a proper implementation of the ‘Fit for 55’ legislative package,” according to the letter signed by the Environment, Climate, and Energy Ministers of Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Portugal.

“This is important for the EU’s credibility at international level as well as the acceptability of increasing the effort,” the joint document adds. The signatories do not refer to a specific target but to an ambitious goal. According to rumors, the European Commission is expected to move toward a 90 percent reduction in emissions by 2040 compared to 1990 levels, as the European Commissioner for Climate Action, Wopke Hoekstra, and the Executive Vice President for the Green Deal, Maros Sefcovic (Although in fact, the decision will be collegial), have argued on more than one occasion. Yesterday, 14 European organizations wrote to Brussels urging a 90 percent reduction as an intermediate step and neutrality in 2050. “The target should also ensure that the EU is fully on track to climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest aiming to achieve negative emissions thereafter. The Commission’s communication should allow the EU to report an NDC with a 2035 ambition to follow up on the decision at COP26 on the five-year timeframes for National Determined Contributions. An ambitious target will also contribute to the phasing-out of fossil fuels,” it adds.

The EU Climate Act (adopted in Brussels in 2021) commits the European Union, among other things, to set a new interim target for 2040 and an indicative projected EU greenhouse gas budget for the period 2030- 2050, or how much net greenhouse gas emissions can be released in that timeframe without jeopardizing the Union’s commitments. This law set a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 55 percent 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 Cop29 (29th United Nations Climate Change Conference) next year in Baku, Azerbaijan.